Sociology in Alex Haley's "Malcolm X" In the earl

In the early chapters of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Malcolm X describes the urban subcultures that characterized his childhood environments. He identifies two primary subcultures: the Black bourgeoisie, which in his early life he described as "brainwashed" because they aspired to mimic the more "cultured" and "cultivated" lives of White people (Haley and X 41). This class of people worked in professions deemed appropriate by the dominant White culture, such as teachers, preachers, nurses, postmen, janitors, domestic servants, Pullman (sleeping train car) porters and dining car waiters (Haley and X 42). Malcolm notes that this class would mimic White society by claiming to be "in finance" or "in law," when in fact they may actually have only been a messenger or janitor in a financial or legal office (Haley and X 42).

In contrast to this class was a more underworld class to which Malcolm quickly became attracted. This class overtly worked as shoeshine boys, con men, peddlers and in nightclubs while covertly selling marijuana or engaging in pimping and prostitution (Haley and X 50). At the time, Malcolm seemed to view this class as less beholden to White notions of Black inferiority. He flourished in this class, often intermingling with Whites, many of whom came to Harlem in the 1940s (Haley and X 83-95). As Malcolm would come to realize later, both of these subcultures were a response to the limits placed on Black opportunity

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dation . . .. I had joined that multitude of Negro men and women in America who are brainwashed into believing that the black people are 'inferior' û and white people 'superior' û that they will even violate and mutilate their God-created bodies to try to look 'pretty' by white standards" (Haley and X 55). But Malcolm's first resocialization occurs when he goes to prison for burglary and meets fellow inmate and Muslim, Bimbi (Haley and X 154). Here Malcolm comes to believe that history had been "Whitened: when White men had written history books, the black man simply had been left out" (Haley and X 175). Malcolm re-educates himself about world history and African-American contributions to it. As he stated, "My homemade education gave me, with every additional book that I read, a little bit more sensitivity to the deafness, dumbness, and blindness that was afflicting the Black race in America" (Haley and X 180). Malcolm begins speaking publicly about his new-found beliefs, thus performing a new role: that of teacher and orator. When he leaves prison and visits a Muslim temple he believes he sees for the first time "Black people who had learned to be proud they were black" (Haley and X 197). Both Durkheim and Robert Merton we
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Approximate Word count = 2101
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)