The Black Progress Question : Explaining the African American Predicament

The recent Los Angeles race riots exposed the depth and persistence of the race problem in the United States and symbolized the despair and hopelessness felt in North America′s cities. The key question remains: Are African-Americans making any progress towards integration into mainstream society?

The Black Progress Question examines the popular responses to this issue and finds them insufficient. For too long, the analysis of black progress has been met with an unwarrented optimism. Stephen Burman presents an alternative approach, sobering in its realism, which will dispel beliefs that a solution to this problem is close at hand.

The African American experience in the United States has enriched American history in countless ways. The overriding theme of that experience, however, is one of exploitation and discrimination. How long will this go on? Are African Americans making progress toward complete incorporation into American society? The author of this fascinating volume addresses these issues, examines others′ accounts, and offers an alternative approach to explaining the "African American predicament." Stephen Burman′s analysis is a sobering one: No simple answer is available to the problem at hand. Some of the other issues the author addresses are the liberal tradition and black progress, race and politics (with special emphasis on Atlanta, Georgia), black nationalism, and Marxism and capitalism and how they relate to black progress. This volume is a must-read for anyone interested in race and ethnic relations. Scholars and students involved in sociology, political science, and urban studies will also appreciate the cogent ideas and lucid analysis contained in The Black Progress Question. "Stephen Burman has written an insightful, judicious, and original critique of competing theories used to interpret the contemporary situation of African Americans." --Choice "Stephen Burman asks: Are African Americans making progress toward political and economic integration into American society? If not, why not? Chapters cover criteria for ′black progress′; the liberal tradition and its failings; the neoconservative arguments′; the influence of Marxism and capitalism;black nationalism; power and plurism; and the continuing tragedy of African Americans in terms of individual, community, national, and global progress." --Journal of Social Work Education