Do You Think The Significance Of Race Or Racial Identity Among Blacks Will Decrease

Running head: DO YOU THINK THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RACE OR RACIAL

IDENTITY AMONG BLACKS WILL DECREASE? 1

Do You Think The Significance Of Race Or Racial Identity Among Blacks Will

Decrease?

Name

Institution

DO YOU THINK THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RACE OR RACIAL IDENTITY AMONG

BLACKS WILL DECREASE? 2

Do You Think the Significance of Race or Racial Identity among Blacks will

Decrease?

Political researchers and social theorists have argued that economic differences within

a group create conflicting political perspectives and behaviors for considerably long time.

Michael Dawson, however, challenges the belief by arguing in contrast that the expansion of

African American middle class has left the identity of race as the principal influence on black

politics (Dawson, 1994). Dawson advances a novel hypothesis of group interests to explain

his argument and phenomenon. His theory emphasizes the perceptions of linked fates and

black financial subordination. The blacks utilize their lived minority economic status to make

political decisions where they choose a political system with the highest economic advantage

to the entire African American community rather than for an individual African American.

The observation implies that the race and racial identity will continue to dominate the

American political systems even in the midst of shifts of focus on economic status rather than

race as was experienced previously.

Dawson’s study concludes that there is a relationship between African American

group interests and socioeconomic factors leading him to propose a positive correlation

between n individual’s perceptions of linked fate and black economic subordination

(Dawson, 1994). The findings further report no correlations between class and linked fate and

an indirect link between the level of education and perceptions of linked fate. More educated

individuals believed that blacks were economically subordinated. The perceptions of linked

did not depend on information gathered from sources such as political and religious messages

or through the media. Urban individuals are highly disconnected from the group than their

rural bred counterparts (Dawson, 1994). The perceptions about economic subordination were

formed by household finances and past beliefs about subordination. The black’s

DO YOU THINK THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RACE OR RACIAL IDENTITY AMONG

BLACKS WILL DECREASE? 3

socioeconomic status was also found to predict the belief that blacks were economically

disadvantaged.

The findings also report that belief in liked fate, higher educational level, and higher

household income increased the probability of believing that civil rights movements affected

one’s life. Linked fate also informed one's views on the efficiency of the black rights

movement (Dawson, 1994). Perceptions of linked fate and economic subordination provide

the basis for analyzing perceptions of racial group interests that further shapes the African

Americans political, economic and social judgments. Therefore, perceptions of the black’s

socioeconomic status inform their political evaluations. The political judgments are shaped

by what the blacks expect to receive from the political and economic system.

Dawson (1994) notes that African Americans are becoming increasingly polarized

among themselves in the economic sphere. The black middle class is growing a devastated

class of individuals. Dawson (1994) further notes that despite the differences among the black

individuals, they remain united in political discourses. In developing his theory of group

interests, Dawson (1994) relates the black Americans personal political viewpoints and

engagements as individuals to their views about the racial group interests. Dawson (1994)

believes that the relationship between an individual’s sense of their own welfare and the same

individual’s sense of benefits of the racial group explains the observed political homogeneity

among African Americans.

The individual’s discernments of racial group interests form the black’s public

attitude and political activities. Dawson (1994) explains understanding the relationship

enables a further understanding of the conditions necessary to be fulfilled to enable the

African American political diversity to increase. Dawson (1994)’s structure shows that the

black Americans views about the interests of the African American race explain the extent

and the conditions the economic divisions within this racial group will become politically

DO YOU THINK THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RACE OR RACIAL IDENTITY AMONG

BLACKS WILL DECREASE? 4

salient. Kim (1999)’s position on radicalization is in agreement with Dawson (1994)’s

finding. Kim (1999) argues that radicalization is a mutually constitutive process generating

ranks along more than one dimension. Every minority race will instinctively group with a

minority race to form a uniform voice as seen with the Asian Americans grouping with the

black Americans against the whites (Chong & Kim, 2006).

Dawson (1994) cites the pluralist perspective to make an argument that individuals

have multiple social and political identities with different impacts on the individual’s sense of

self. The African Americans primarily use race and class to identify themselves in addition to

gender and religion with the least impact on identity (Chong & Kim, 2006). African

Americans have always been perceived to take lower social classes than their white

counterparts as exemplified by the case of Arthur Mitchell, Chicago congressman of 1930s.

Similar claims of perceived lower social class among blacks can also be found in Malcolm

X’s speeches during the 1960s and rap music lyrics of the 1990s. Conversely, many

researchers have argued that the economic class differences among the black Americans

serve as an important reflection of the different realities of the middle class and

disadvantaged African Americans (Chong & Kim, 2006).

Dawson’s theory of group interests draws upon the social and cognitive theories with

emphasis on group identity, interdependence, and subordination. Contrastingly, Dawson

(1994) uses methodological individualism in combination to an approach that views the

individual’s relation to their position in the social structure and the political environment to

advance his theory. The theory considers individual preferences to be endogenous and

structured by one's position in the social structure. Dawson (1994) advances the theory with a

particular focus on the African Americans because he assumes that one’s personal needs are

molded by their links to the African American community and perceptions of group interests

DO YOU THINK THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RACE OR RACIAL IDENTITY AMONG

BLACKS WILL DECREASE? 5

that are in turn molded by their position in the black Americans class structure and race in a

racially hierarchical society.

The racial group interest, as Dawson views, has a social and economic component, the

social component including the individual’s relationship with the society and state and

includes politics while the economic component includes the aspects of life involving African

Americans economic subjugation. The political, social, and economic components are

intimately related and interconnected (Dawson, 1994). The links were developed and

strengthened by the historical patterns of general subjugation of black life through slavery

and economic domination of blacks by whites (Chong & Kim, 2006). The African Americans

made their first presence and participation in politics during the reconstruction era and the

beginning of World War I through participating in southern politics (Dawson, 1994). The

African Americans had learned that they lost economic and social rights through deprivation

of political rights. The African Americans fought for their rights during the redemption

period consequently gaining and losing the right to vote. The African Americans were further

segregated and reduced to a grim economic condition. Lynching and later policies such as the

Jim Crow legislation made African Americans nearly powerless (Dawson, 1994). Revolts and

resistance from the Americans would see the birth of demonstrations and movements in

search of equal rights.

The Whites continued to use violence, law and the local government apparatus, credit

systems, and psychological oppression to maintain their economic supremacy. The whites

used violence to drive the African Americans into slavery because, through force, the African

Americans could work without demanding economic benefits from their labor (Dawson,

1994). However, state power was the most powerful tool to drive blacks into submission. An

example is the Anti-Enticement Law that ensured that black workers who do not enter into a

contract with the white planters would be liable to criminal sanctions. The criminal saction

DO YOU THINK THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RACE OR RACIAL IDENTITY AMONG

BLACKS WILL DECREASE? 6

automatically made one a government supplied labor to the white planters. The Sundown

Laws, Lien Laws, and the judiciary’s directive that blacks should not be enticed away from

their employers promoted the economic subjugation (Dawson, 1994). The state participated

in reinforcing economic coercion and exploitation. As a result, racism governed the rural

southern political economy. The racist system of economic subjugation and exploitation in

part explains the statist orientation of the African Americans.

Additionally, the perceived economic supremacy of the black Americans by the

whites entangled with a perception of political command further reinforced the statist

orientation observed (Kim, 1999). The decline of the economic system that kept the blacks

subordinate led the whites to use political domination to continue the black subjugation. The

Jim Crow laws were instituted, and the African Americans were stripped of their voting

rights and the rights to participate in political discourses. The whites declining economic

power put them under threats of suffering more loss of power because of the alliances formed

between poor blacks and whites in the south. Slavery thus characterized the period, the

interest of African Americans as a group, black’s evaluations of their economic status as a

group relative to the economically powerful white counterparts and their political status

accentuates Dawson’s theory.

African American historical experience has been about race. During the post World

War II era, blacks were unequally treated through exclusion from jobs, less pay, confined in

business and professional life, allowed no position in authority, not allowed to purchase from

white stores, hotels, and restaurants, sit at the back of the bus, residentially segregated, and

denied participation in politics (Dawson, 1994; Kim, 1999). The blacks revolted the

oppression and formed civil rights movements to achieve political and social rights with

advancements in the economic realm. Researchers have however not reported how the

DO YOU THINK THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RACE OR RACIAL IDENTITY AMONG

BLACKS WILL DECREASE? 7

economic advances achieved impacted the political salience of the racial identity of the

blacks.

Dawson (1994) observes that economic and social discrimination still affects African

Americans in current America. The African Americans continue to face employment

discrimination, police brutality against blacks, exclusion from certain stores and public

gatherings, and harassment. The theory of group interest is built on two historical aspects of

American racism. First is the observation that the Americans life chances were entirely

dependent on race where being determined black one's role in the social structure, and what

political and social policies would provide the most utility for the African Americans. As

Dawson (1994) cites, Harding (1991) argues that a society under racial and ethnic conflict

turns to a group effort to achieve individual success. For instance, a policy that is beneficial

for the black racial group is valuable for each that is a part of the group. Black political and

economic elites often do the evaluations of the policies. The blacks focus their cognitive

resources on the issues that affect them at an individual level making it easy to make learned

political choices without necessarily collecting much information across diverse subject

domains. The blacks also take cues from successful racial organizations and leaders to

acquire information about policy issues, parties, and candidates without necessarily acquiring

information (Dawson, 1994). The African Americans, therefore, believe that their life largely

depends on the status of their racial group making Dawson’s reasoning that the focus on the

entire group informs how the blacks evaluate policies, parties, and candidates. The

phenomenon, as Dawson (1994) calls it, is the black utility heuristics.

Dawson (1994) notes that group mobilization and black institutions further reinforce

the group identity and group behavior. The mobilization networks formed during the World

War II, redemption era and the reconstruction era were responsible for civil rights movement

and large voter mobilization campaigns for local black candidates in cities such as Chicago

DO YOU THINK THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RACE OR RACIAL IDENTITY AMONG

BLACKS WILL DECREASE? 8

(Dawson, 1994). The networks are also responsible for aiding the process of perpetuating the

perception that racial group interests precede class interests for many blacks. The

phenomenon implies that black’s political behavior and attitudes are sensitive to short-term

changes in political, racial and economic environments. The phenomenon further implies that

it would take longer before the black social attitudes and behavior reflect divergence in the

formation of American racial relations or ideas about party and candidates to better progress

the black interests (Kim, 1999).

Dawson’s theory of group interest states that individual black political behavior and

public opinion depends on the racial group interests, individual socioeconomic status, and the

traditional political variables including party identification (Dawson, 1994). The theory

further states that perceptions of racial group interests depend on the integration into black

organizations, exposure to black information networks, the degree of reliance of the messages

from black elites and socioeconomic class (Dawson, 1994). The theory also states that

traditional political attributes such as party identification among the African Americans are

structured by perceptions of racial interests and socioeconomic status. Finally the theory

asserts that the current utility that the individuals acquire from a policy, candidate or political

party is a function of opinions of racial group interests, personal economic position and the

utility that the individual perceived in the past from a given policy, candidate, party or

legislation is transmitted through formal and informal networks of the black community and

used to predict group utility. Dawson (1994) further notes that the cost of information

determines the weight of the information in informing the individual’s political utility. On a

similar note, Dawson (1994) notes that it is costlier to acquire information on individual

utility than it are to acquire information on group utility making it easier for individuals to

focus on group interests rather than personal interests increasingly.

DO YOU THINK THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RACE OR RACIAL IDENTITY AMONG

BLACKS WILL DECREASE? 9

Dawson (1994) highlights the alteration of the black American class arrangement

through the chronological heritage of racism and manipulation. Researchers have reported

that the American black middle class is smaller and black working class is larger compared to

the proportion of the white working class. The researchers also note that the black capitalist

state with any social influence does not exist (Dawson, 1994). The change in black American

class structure that occurred in the 20th century resulted in the creation of a new black middle

class at a time when African American workers became increasingly economically

marginalized indicating that new segments within classes develop as the structure of the

economy changes. According to Wilson, as cited by Dawson (1994), the race is declining in

importance as a factor to determine African American life chances and class is taking control.

Other studies have, however, noted that the African American working and middle-class

exhibit higher degrees of racial identity than class identity. Objectively and often, class is

evaluated by individual’s income, education, and occupation. Dawson (1994) however claims

that income and education are the primary determinants of class measures.

Dawson (1994)’s findings are in agreement with Wilson (2012) that the African

American life chances are dependent more on their economic class roles than with their daily

engagement with the whites. He argues that racial conflict that transpired in the slavery

period was a manifestation of class conflict where the whites wanted to have a higher class

than the blacks through economic subordination. Reasoning informs the assumption based on

the orthodox Marxist theory that explains that class differences shape racial relations

(Wilson, 2012). According to the theory, the capitalist white planters focused on making

profits thus could suppress the black worker's demands for higher wages and abate their

negotiation power by encouraging separations within their positions. The divisions occurred

along racial traits through developing and encouraging racial injustice and beliefs of racial

subordination (Wilson, 2012).

DO YOU THINK THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RACE OR RACIAL IDENTITY AMONG

BLACKS WILL DECREASE? 10

The paper reviews different but similar opinions held by researchers and authors

concerning a possibly declining black race and racial identity. The authors support the shift

from racial identity to class identity as the primary determinant in making political

evaluations. However, the authors do not explicitly agree that the shift to class identity will

eliminate racial identity among the African Americans or Asian Americans. The racial groups

continue to perceive their minority and marginalized status that they make political choices

concerning what the political systems contribute to their racial group. As a result, the racial

component of the perceived minority status will ensure that race and racial identity among the

blacks continue to exist. The elites make most of the political evaluations and inform their

black counterparts about their evaluations. The evaluations are made based on the perceived

economic contributions to the entire African American race.

DO YOU THINK THE SIGNIFICANCE OF RACE OR RACIAL IDENTITY AMONG

BLACKS WILL DECREASE? 11

References

Chong, D., & Kim, D. (2006). The experiences and effects of economic status among racial

and ethnic minorities. American Political Science Review, 100(3), 335-351.

Dawson, M. C. (1994). Behind the mule: Race and class in African-American politics.

Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.

Kim, C. J. (1999). The racial triangulation of Asian Americans. Politics & Society, 27(1),

105-138.

Wilson, W. J. (2012). The declining significance of race: Blacks and changing American

institutions. Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press.

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