Population and Development Review · 1994 · 237 citations · 0 references
Race RelationSustainable DevelopmentLawSustainable FutureClimate PolicyEnvironmental EconomicsEnvironmental PlanningRacial StudyUnited StatesRacial Segregation StudiesAfrican American HistoryEnvironmental PolicySocial SciencesRaceAfrican American StudiesCivil RightsCivil Rights HistoryNational DevelopmentRacial EquityEnvironmental GovernanceBlack Social MovementsAfrican American FreedomIntersectionalityBlack MigrationEnvironmental DisastersAmerican Civil Rights LawEnvironmental PoliticsNational EconomiesBlack PoliticsEnvironmental CrisisRace RelationsRacial ViolenceSociologySustainabilityGlobal SustainabilityPolitical Science
Race relations in the United States have fluctuated between distrust, violence, and periods of conciliation and integration, with economic downturns and widening income disparities exacerbating political inequality. This study argues that economic equality is the key determinant of the quality of race relations. The author supports this thesis by examining key events and eras in American history since Reconstruction—black migration, New Deal policies, the civil rights movement, affirmative action—and analyzing how major political parties used race to win support.
Race relations in the United States have long been volatile - marked on the one hand by distrust and violence, but tempered on the other by periods of conciliation, integration and relative harmony. This path-breaking blend of history, sociology, political science and economics argues that the key factor determining the quality of race relations is economic: When economic equality spreads so do social and political equality. Conversely, economic downturns and widening income disparities promote political inequality, polarizing blacks and whites. To support this provocative thesis the author examines key events and eras in American history since the Reconstruction - particularly the black migration and the New Deal policies of the interwar years, the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, and the rise and decline of affirmative action in the late twentieth century. He also analyzes the racial policies and politics of the major political parties and shows how they played the race card to win support.