African Americans in U.S. Society
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The theories offered by Eugene V. Wolfenstein in The VictimÆs of Democracy and those offered by Robert L. Allen in Black Awakening in Capitalist America are similar in that they show the significant interconnection of race, class, economics, education, labor, and politics in the process of social transformation. Wolfenstein (351) provides an account of the psychological impact of this process on consciousness and identity but basis this impact on the foundation of capitalism, ôThe alienation of sensuous energies, when mediated by the commodity-character of bourgeois social production, results in the systematic falsification of conscious activity.ö Overcoming this falsification is what Wolfenstein (351) maintains Malcolm X achieved but he also argues it is necessary for overcoming ôracist oppression.ö Allen (275) expands WolfensteinÆs concept by maintaining that what must be overcome to eliminate racist oppression, in a system whose economic and social structures reinforce it, are the forces that remove democracy from ôeconomic relations.ö These, Allen explains, are forces inherent in a capitalistic cycle of social revolution that moves through a process of colonialism, decolonization, and neocolonialism. In a system that is economically and socially arranged around exploiter and exploited, becoming liberated and forging a true identity can only equate to the ôhavesö and ôhave-nots.ö This analysis will compared and contras
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k liberation movement often struggle with each other for power and control, but both sides have the tendency to fight for their own interests in the guise of national or mass interest. AllenÆs theory is similar to WolfensteinÆs contention that inherent flaws in the capitalist mode of production must be overcome for real liberation. However, where Allen provides an economic and political analysis for how the Black bourgeois is often co-opted by white elites, WolfensteinÆs analysis is more from a psychological perspective. Wolfenstein maintains that there are negative psychological effects from living as a minority in a racist culture. The false consciousness that develops from existing in such a condition is one that must be transcended by those seeking liberation as much as the structures of the capitalist mode of production. However, many individuals do not achieve this awareness, which Wolfenstein (145) maintains makes them seek to mold themselves into an image of the oppressor: ôNegro identity (like any other externally imposed and therefore stereotypically limited identity) is a character-form of group-emotion, determined through the mediation of identification with the oppressor.ö This might well explain why the Black b
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1592
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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