Dubois & Race Conflict: Crash Course Sociology #7

Summary

The script explores the life and work of W.E.B. DuBois, a pioneering sociologist and civil rights activist. Born in 1868, DuBois was the first African American to earn a Harvard PhD and made significant contributions to the study of race, including the concept of 'double-consciousness' and race-conflict theory. His research on African American communities in Philadelphia highlighted racial disparities rooted in social structures rather than biological inferiority. DuBois' work laid the foundation for modern sociological studies on racial identity, formation, politics, and resistance, influencing the NAACP and shaping the discourse on racial equality.

Takeaways

• 🎓 W.E.B. DuBois was a highly accomplished scholar, earning two bachelor's degrees, a PhD from Harvard, and a fellowship to study in Berlin.
• 🏛️ His PhD was the first granted to an African American by Harvard University, marking a significant milestone in academic history.
• 📚 DuBois was a prolific author, sociologist, and historian, contributing extensively to the understanding of race and society.
• 🌟 He was a co-founder of the NAACP, a key civil rights organization, and editor of 'The Crisis', a longstanding black publication.
• 🔍 DuBois conducted pioneering studies on the living conditions of African Americans, such as his comprehensive survey 'The Philadelphia Negro'.
• 🤔 His work introduced the concept of 'double-consciousness', highlighting the complex identity struggle of Black Americans in a white-centric society.
• 🏛️ Race was historically considered a biological construct, but DuBois and modern sociology view it as a socially constructed category.
• 👥 DuBois' research showed that racial disparities were not due to inferiority but to systemic racial prejudice and lack of access to opportunities.
• 🛠️ Modern sociologists build upon DuBois' work, examining how race intersects with political power and institutional structures.
• 🌐 Racial formation theory, developed by Omi and Winant, explains how societal forces define racial categories and are influenced by them.
• 📈 Socioeconomic disparities between racial groups, such as the wealth gap, are linked to historical structural disadvantages and ongoing systemic racism.

Q & A

Who was W.E.B. DuBois and what are some of his notable achievements?

W.E.B. DuBois was a prominent African American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, and author. His achievements include being the first African American to receive a PhD from Harvard University, co-founding the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and editing the magazine 'The Crisis', which is the longest-running black publication in the United States.

What is the concept of 'double-consciousness' as introduced by DuBois?

The concept of 'double-consciousness' refers to the internal conflict experienced by Black Americans who have to reconcile their identity as both Americans and as Black individuals within a predominantly white society. This concept suggests that living as a member of a non-dominant race creates a fracture in one's sense of identity within that society.

How did DuBois' early study 'The Philadelphia Negro' contribute to the understanding of racial disparities?

'The Philadelphia Negro' was a groundbreaking study conducted by DuBois that collected data on 9,675 African Americans in Philadelphia. It documented the living conditions and disparities between African Americans and white residents, such as differences in literacy rates, poverty, crime, and occupational distribution. DuBois concluded that these disparities were due to racial prejudice and unequal access to resources, rather than racial inferiority.

What is the significance of the NAACP in the history of civil rights in the United States?

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), co-founded by DuBois, played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement. It fought against racial discrimination through various means, including journalism, lawsuits, and political advocacy. The NAACP was instrumental in landmark legal cases and social movements that advanced civil rights for African Americans.

What is the concept of 'racial formation' and how does it relate to societal structures?

Racial formation theory, formalized by sociologists Michael Omi and Howard Winant, refers to the process by which social, political, and economic forces define racial categories and how these categories shape those forces. It suggests that the concept of race was developed as a tool to maintain the power of those of European descent and that racial categories are not static but are influenced by societal structures and power dynamics.

How did DuBois' work on racial identity influence modern sociological studies?

DuBois' work on racial identity laid the foundation for modern studies in racial identity theory, which examines how individuals come to identify with a certain race. His insights into the complexities of racial identity, particularly for Black Americans, have been crucial in understanding the social construction of race and its impact on individuals and society.

What is the role of labor unions in perpetuating racial disparities as discussed in the script?

In the 1890s, labor unions in Philadelphia, influenced by racial prejudice, excluded Black workers from joining. This exclusion limited the types of jobs Black workers could access, leading to higher rates of unemployment, poverty, and crime within Black communities. The unions then used these outcomes to justify their exclusionary practices, thus perpetuating a cycle of racial disparities.

How does the work of William Julius Wilson differ from DuBois' in terms of understanding racial disparities?

While DuBois focused on the direct impact of racial prejudice on racial disparities, William Julius Wilson argues that class, not race, is the primary determinant for many Black Americans. He suggests that class gaps exist due to structural disadvantages that have historical roots, but the primary factor influencing outcomes is socioeconomic status rather than race.

What is Eduardo Bonilla-Silva's concept of 'racism without racists'?

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva's concept of 'racism without racists' refers to the idea that while explicitly racist views have become less socially acceptable, structural racism persists in political and legal systems. This form of racism is less overt but continues to hinder the progress of racial minorities through institutionalized practices and policies.

How do sociologists study racial resistance and what are some examples?

Sociologists study racial resistance by examining how different racial groups challenge and change the structures of power. This can include overt social movements like the Civil Rights movement or Black Lives Matter, as well as more subtle forms of resistance, such as challenging racial stereotypes or societal expectations, as Patricia Hill Collins has discussed in the context of Black women's roles in the family and workforce.

What is the significance of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 14th Amendment in the context of DuBois' life and work?

The Emancipation Proclamation and the 14th Amendment were significant legal milestones in the United States that occurred around the time of DuBois' birth. They represented steps towards racial equality but also highlighted the ongoing struggle for civil rights. DuBois' life and work were deeply influenced by the legacy of these events and the ongoing racial disparities they did not fully address.

Outlines

00:00

🎓 Life and Achievements of W.E.B. DuBois

This paragraph introduces W.E.B. DuBois, a prominent African American sociologist, historian, author, and civil rights activist. Highlighting his impressive academic and professional credentials, including being the first African American to receive a PhD from Harvard and his significant contributions to the field of sociology, such as his pioneering work on race-conflict theory. DuBois' early life is also discussed, set against the backdrop of post-Civil War America, where racial categories were considered biologically determined, a concept now understood to be a social construct. The paragraph also touches on the concept of 'double-consciousness,' a term coined by DuBois to describe the internal conflict experienced by African Americans navigating their dual identities within a racially divided society.

05:02

🔍 Sociological Insights on Race and Economic Disparity

This section delves into the sociological study of race, focusing on the work of W.E.B. DuBois and his examination of racial disparities in America. DuBois' groundbreaking study, 'The Philadelphia Negro,' is highlighted, detailing his comprehensive survey of African American communities in Philadelphia, revealing stark differences in living conditions, literacy, poverty, and health compared to white communities. The paragraph discusses the radical nature of DuBois' findings, which attributed these disparities to racial prejudice and lack of access to opportunities rather than racial inferiority. It also introduces the concept of racial formation theory, explaining how societal forces shape racial categories and the subsequent impact of these categories on society. The influence of labor unions on racial economic disparities is also examined, illustrating the self-reinforcing cycle of racial prejudice and its perpetuation through economic opportunities.

10:05

🌟 Continuing the Legacy: Sociological Perspectives on Race

The final paragraph summarizes the enduring impact of W.E.B. DuBois' work on modern sociology, particularly in the areas of racial politics and resistance. It discusses the evolution of racial identity theory, the role of class in racial disparities as posited by William Julius Wilson, and the ongoing struggle against structural racism as described by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva. The paragraph also touches on the various forms of racial resistance, from overt social movements like the Civil Rights movement and Black Lives Matter to more subtle challenges to societal expectations, as explored by Patricia Hill Collins. The summary concludes by acknowledging the ongoing relevance of DuBois' work in contemporary sociological studies of race, emphasizing the interconnectedness of race with political power and institutional structures.

Keywords

💡W.E.B. DuBois

William Edward Burghardt DuBois, known as W.E.B. DuBois, was an African American sociologist, historian, and civil rights activist. He is a central figure in the video, being one of the earliest American sociologists and a proponent of race-conflict theory. His work on the lives of African Americans during the Jim Crow era is highlighted as foundational to the study of race in sociology.

💡Race-Conflict Theory

This concept, introduced by DuBois, focuses on the disparities and conflicts between people of different races. The video explains how DuBois' studies on the lives of African Americans during a period of racial segregation and oppression laid the groundwork for understanding the social implications of race and how racial prejudice, rather than biological inferiority, leads to societal issues.

💡Double-Consciousness

A term coined by DuBois to describe the internal conflict within African Americans, feeling both American and Black in a society dominated by white-centric views. The video uses this concept to illustrate the fractured identity and the psychological impact of living as a member of a non-dominant race in America.

💡Jim Crow Laws

These were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the southern United States. The video mentions these laws as part of the oppressive environment during which DuBois conducted his studies, highlighting the social and legal context that shaped race relations in America.

💡The Philadelphia Negro

This refers to DuBois' groundbreaking study of the living conditions of African Americans in Philadelphia, which the video describes as the first published study of its kind. The findings from this survey challenged prevailing beliefs about racial inferiority by attributing disparities to social and economic disadvantages rather than inherent racial traits.

💡Racial Formation Theory

The video introduces this modern sociological concept, formalized by Michael Omi and Howard Winant, which explains how societal forces define racial categories and how these categories influence those forces. It is related to the video's theme by illustrating the historical process of racial categorization and its impact on social structures.

💡NAACP

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, mentioned in the video as the civil rights organization co-founded by DuBois. It played a significant role in the fight against racial discrimination and is an example of DuBois' transition from scholarly work to direct activism.

💡The Crisis Magazine

This publication, co-founded by DuBois, is highlighted in the video as the longest-running black publication in the United States. It served as a platform for DuBois' intellectual contributions and was instrumental in the dissemination of civil rights advocacy.

💡Racial Identity Theory

This modern sociological theory, discussed in the video, examines how individuals come to identify with a certain race. It is linked to the video's theme by building upon DuBois' early work on racial identity and exploring the psychological aspects of race in contemporary society.

💡Structural Disadvantages

The video refers to these as the long-lasting effects of historical discrimination that continue to impact the present-day opportunities and outcomes for racial minorities. It is exemplified by the wealth gap between white and black Americans, illustrating how past racial policies and practices create ongoing economic disparities.

💡Racial Resistance

The video discusses this concept in the context of how racial groups challenge and change power structures. It is tied to the theme by showcasing both overt and subtle forms of resistance, such as the Civil Rights movement and the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as more nuanced acts of resistance against societal expectations.

Highlights

W.E.B. DuBois was a pioneer in American sociology and the first proponent of race-conflict theory.

He was the first African American to receive a PhD from Harvard University.

DuBois studied in Berlin on a two-year fellowship, influencing his sociological perspective.

He held professorships in sociology and history at two different universities.

DuBois authored numerous books, contributing significantly to sociological literature.

He was an activist and co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

DuBois was the editor and co-founder of The Crisis, a prominent black publication.

His concept of 'double-consciousness' describes the fractured identity of Black Americans.

DuBois conducted the first published study on the living conditions of African Americans with 'The Philadelphia Negro'.

His research revealed disparities between Black and White Americans, attributing them to racial prejudice rather than inferiority.

DuBois argued that race is a socially constructed category, not a biological determinant.

He highlighted the role of societal perceptions in shaping racial categories and outcomes.

DuBois' work laid the foundation for modern sociological studies on racial identity, formation, politics, and resistance.

His activism and scholarship influenced the strategies and goals of the NAACP in fighting racial discrimination.

Modern sociologists, like Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, build on DuBois' ideas, examining structural racism in contemporary society.

DuBois' legacy is evident in the ongoing examination of race and its intersection with political power and institutional structures.

His work on racial resistance has inspired studies on how racial groups challenge and change power structures.

Sociologists continue to explore the implications of DuBois' theories on race, identity, and social outcomes.

Transcripts

Two bachelor degrees. PhD from Harvard University.

Two-year fellowship to study in Berlin.

Professor of sociology and history at two different universities.

Author of countless books.

Activist and co-founder of a key civil rights organization.

Editor and co-founder of a magazine.

And a poet to boot. Pretty good resume, yeah?

What if I make it a bit more impressive?

That PhD from Harvard?

First Harvard PhD granted to an African American.

The civil rights organization?

The NAACP.

That magazine?

The Crisis, the longest running black publication in the United States, in print since 1910.

This resume belongs to William Edward Burghardt DuBois, whom you might know better as W.E.B. Dubois.

He was one of the earliest American sociologists, as well as one of the first proponents of race-conflict theory.

And his studies of the lives of African Americans during the Jim Crow era of American history

– and the oppression they faced – are the cornerstones of how sociologists study race.

[Theme Music]

W.E.B. Dubois was born in a small town in Massachusetts in 1868.

1868 – that’s five years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Three years after the end of the American Civil War.

And the same year that the 14th amendment was passed.

At this time, race was considered a biological construct.

Slavery, and later the Jim Crow laws – laws in the South that enforced racial segregation

– were framed as natural consequences of the supposed, natural inferiority of Blacks to Whites.

We, of course, now know that this was not just wrong, but deeply harmful.

And more than that – the idea that race itself is a purely biological, immutable quality is also understood today as being simply untrue.

Instead, race is thought of as a socially constructed category of people, who share biological traits that society has deemed important.

Yes, human beings vary a lot in how we look – our skin color, our facial features, our body shapes, our hair texture.

But those visual markers only become a “race” when members of society decide that specific markers constitute a specific racial group.

This is why the concept of race often changes, across cultures and times.

For example, when Dubois was alive, Irish and Italian Americans weren’t considered ‘white,’ either.

But today, try telling some Boston Southie guy or an Italian grandma from Pittsburgh that they’re not white.

See what they say.

Did something change about Irish and Italian Americans biologically?

Of course not. It’s how society saw them that changed.

And it’s that last bit – what race a person is seen as, and how they’re treated as a result –

that ends up being a huge determinant of a person’s social outcomes.

Dubois began to consider his race as a part of his identity, when he moved to the South to go to college, and then spent several years in Europe.

He saw how differently black people were treated in different places, and was disillusioned about how Americans treated him based on his skin color.

He can describe this disillusionment much better than I can:

“One ever feels his twoness,” he wrote, “an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring id.”

This quote reveals a really critical underlying thread in much of Dubois’ work – the idea of double-consciousness.

Dubois argued that there are two competing identities as a Black American – seeing one’s self as an American and seeing one’s self as a Black person while living in white-centric America.

Living as a member of a non-dominant race, he said, creates a fracture in your sense of identity within that society.

These feelings are what fueled Dubois’ work, which focused on the disparities and conflicts between people of different races – what we now call race-conflict theory.

Today, questions of race and identity are studied by sociologists who work on racial identity theory, which looks at how individuals come to identify as a certain race.

Dubois didn’t only research racial identity, though –

he also looked at the everyday lives of black and white Americans and wrote extensively about how and why their lives differed so drastically in post-slavery America.

Let’s go to the Thought Bubble to look at one of Dubois’ early studies of these disparities.

In 1896, the University of Pennsylvania hired Dubois to do a survey on Black communities in Philadelphia.

His work eventually became ‘The Philadelphia Negro,’ the first published study of the living conditions of African Americans.

Dubois went knocking on doors, asking people questions about themselves and their families.

And there were an awful lot of doors.

All told, Dubois collected data on 9,675 African Americans.

He focused on one specific ward of Philly – the 7th ward, a historically Black neighborhood that attracted families of all classes, from doctors and teachers, to the poor and destitute.

He sat in thousands of parlors, asking questions about age, gender, education, literacy, occupations,

earnings, crime, and documented the ways in which African-Americans differed from Philly’s white residents.

For example, the Black population turned out to be much younger than the White population and had a higher proportion of women.

It also had lower literacy rates, higher rates of poverty and crime, and a higher concentration of workers in the service industry than in manufacturing or trade.

Mortality rates were higher, as was the frequency of illness.

But here’s what made Dubois’ report especially unique:

He concluded that much of the dysfunction within Black communities came from their inferior access to things like education and more lucrative jobs.

The reason that the black population had higher rates of death and illness, he said, was because of occupational hazards, and poverty, and less access to health care.

It’s hard to express just how radical Dubois’ conclusions were at the time.

The problems in black communities were not due to racial inferiority, Dubois argued, but to racial prejudice.

And that was completely different from how many Americans thought at the time.

Thanks Thought Bubble.

So, race doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

It doesn’t just imbue you with certain essential qualities.

Instead, race matters because of the power that society gives it.

For another example, let’s stick with Philly and use the labor unions there in the 1890s.

Because of prejudice against Black workers, and beliefs about their abilities and morals,

trade labor unions didn’t allow Black workers to join.

And because they couldn’t join unions, many Black workers couldn’t get manufacturing or trade work – which paid much better than service work.

And because they couldn’t get these jobs, Black communities had more men out of work,

higher rates of poverty, and more criminal behavior.

Which then allowed the white workers and unions to justify their decision to not allow black workers into their union.

The prevailing beliefs about race and racism ultimately reinforced themselves.

This is what’s now known as racial formation theory, a theory formalized by modern sociologists Michael Omi and Howard Winant.

Racial formation refers to the process through which social, political, and economic forces influence how a society defines racial categories –

and how those racial categories in turn end up shaping those forces.

Omi and Winant argue that the concept of race came about as a tool to justify and maintain the economic and political power held by those of European descent.

Another modern look at these issues can be seen in the work of sociologist William Julius Wilson.

He explores why Black and White Americans tend to have such different outcomes in terms of income, education, and more.

And he argues that class, not race, is the determining factor for many Black Americans.

But the reasons that these class gaps exist to begin with, come from the structural disadvantages that date back to Dubois’ time.

Dubois continued to research the ways in which prejudice, segregation, and lack of access to education and jobs were holding back African Americans.

A strong advocate of education and of challenging Jim Crow laws, he clashed with another leading black intellectual of the time, Booker T. Washington, who advocated compromise with the predominantly white political system.

Over time, DuBois grew frustrated with the limits of scholarship in affecting change,

so he turned to direct activism and political writing.

In 1909, he co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or the NAACP, and was the editor and intellectual driving force behind its magazine, The Crisis.

The NAACP fought against lynching, segregation of schools, voting disenfranchisement, and much more.

It used journalism as one of its most powerful tools, publishing the records of thousands of lynchings over a thirty year period.

And it used lawsuits, targeting voter disenfranchisement and school segregation in decade-long court battles.

And, after DuBois’ time, it went on to become part of many of the landmark moments in the fight for civil rights,

including the Brown vs. Board of Education case, the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the March on Washington.

Modern sociologists continue Dubois’ work on racial politics, asking the question:

How is race intertwined with political power, and the institutional structures within a society?

Sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, for example, argues that we now have what he calls “racism without racists.”

What he means is: Explicitly racist views have become less socially acceptable, so fewer people are willing to say that they don’t think Black and White Americans should have equal rights.

But, as Bonilla-Silva points out, that doesn’t mean racism is a thing of the past.

Instead, he says, structural racism – the kind that’s entrenched in political and legal structures – still holds back the progress of racial minorities.

Take, for example, the fact that the median wealth of white Americans is 13 times higher than the median wealth of black Americans.

Now, you could look at that and say, well, black people just aren’t as good at saving as white people.

After all, it’s not like there’s anything legally preventing them from making or saving more money.

But that completely ignores the ways in which wealth builds up over generations.

Past generations of Black Americans were unable to build wealth, because they had far less access to higher incomes, banking services, and housing.

These ideas about how the structures of power interact with race may have their origins in Dubois’ work, but they continue today.

And so do his studies of racial resistance.

Researchers of racial resistance ask: How do different racial groups challenge and change the structures of power?

Sometimes racial resistance is easy to see in society.

Think the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, or Black Lives Matter today.

But sociologists can also look at more subtle forms of resistance, too, like resistance against racial ideas and stereotypes.

For example, sociologist Patricia Hill Collins has written about the different relationships that black and white women have had with marriage and staying home to raise a family.

In the feminist movement of the 1960s and 70s, one of its key issues was the exclusion of women from the workforce.

Entering the workforce was seen as a form of resistance.

But Black women have, for most of American history, been forced to work, or needed to work to help support their families.

For them, Collins argues, joining the workforce is not resistance.

Instead, staying at home to care for their families can be an act of resistance against society’s expectations for Black women.

All of these modern fields of study within race-conflict theory – racial identity,

racial formation, racial politics, and racial resistance – they all have their origins in the work of one sociologist: W.E.B. Dubois.

Today we talked about W.E.B. Dubois, one of the founders of sociological thought and the founder of race-conflict theory.

We talked about race and how our understanding of how we define race has changed over time.

We talked about Dubois’ idea of ‘double-consciousness’ and how it relates to the modern day field of racial identity.

We introduced the idea of racial formation and used Dubois’ survey of African Americans in Philadelphia to look at how economic, political, and social structures affect how we perceive different races – and vice versa.

And finally, we looked at the activist side of Dubois’ life as co-founder of the NAACP and editor of the Crisis, and discussed how modern day sociologists study racial politics and racial resistance.

Next time, we’ll take a look at some of the sociologists who were at the forefront of a different type of conflict theory: gender-conflict theory.

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