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Help regarding black culture (academics welcome)

I'm writing an article in which I want to touch very briefly on the idea that black people are more status driven than other ethnic groups. I don't think this is a crazy idea considering things like bling-bling, hydraulic cars, or the idea that a particular rapper has more credibility if he's from a rough neighbourhood or has been involved with gangs, et cetera. Or conversely, that starting at a lower position on the ladder all those years ago, they've been forced to achieve status in different ways.

Obviously, I'm aware that not all people with black skin subscribe to the hip-hop type of culture or act like this, but it is one aspect. Now, for the sake of getting my points across without offending people, I don't want to appear racist. Does anyone know of any credible academic sources that cover this kind of thing? I've done all the obvious google and google book searches and turned up very little. Usually I would visit a library, but being that I don't speak the language here, that's a little hard for me these days.

Thanks in advance for any help.

I don't think that's true at all.

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Originally posted by Adam420 I don't think that's true at all.

And that's one of the reasons why I'm looking for academic sources. I don't want to make claims without having evidence.

21 pages


i think there's a racist presumption to the whole thing, that is that black people should have any different attitudes about status in the first place, that the question posed is seen as legitimate. so i think you've already done a good job appearing racist. it's not clear yet if you are being discriminatory or supremacist, but definitely racist.

and i think your objective is pretty vague.

first of all you have to define 'status' in a way that is meaningful across many disparate groups of people.

and you also need to prove that the a black rapper who brag about his 'status' change is somehow more meaningful than a non black person who posts a photo of their child's college graduation on their mcdonalds cash register.



i think you should change your focus from 'black people' to 'hip hop culture'

otherwise it's incredibly racist, ignorant, and academically clumsy.

Oh, boy.

black ppl just have more obvious indicators of status.
white ppl are status driven too: "i'm on a boat"
asian people: "my daughter go ucla. study be doctor"

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Originally posted by LAdazeNYnights black ppl just have more obvious indicators of status. white ppl are status driven too: "i'm on a boat" asian people: "my daughter go ucla. study be doctor"

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Or conversely, that starting at a lower position on the ladder all those years ago, they've been forced to achieve status in different ways.

I don't really care if you agree with the idea, anyway. I'm more interested in reading up on the subject so I can prove or disprove the vague assertion to myself.

I don't have any specific sources for you, but - providing it doesn't wander too far from the topic you are addressing - I might recommend you delve into the theory of the linear time phenomenon, and how the process of perception of event sequence explores cultural differentiation regarding geocentric lineage. That is, people with genealogies more closely derivative from the Earth's equator exhibit behaviours more reactive and improvisational than those farther north or south of it do, from a variety of contributing factors and folkways pertaining to the transmission of communication and its relegatory devices; Namely, mating rituals that broadcast in the most viral manner possible.

http://www.boostmobile.com/?cid=da_..._boost%20mobile

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Originally posted by nefardec i think you should change your focus from 'black people' to 'hip hop culture' otherwise it's incredibly racist, ignorant, and academically clumsy.

No, it's not, if it can be proven. If he can prove that this undesirable characteristic is more prevalent in black families than others, should he refrain from writing the paper? Are we going to bar research that may lead to findings that are of interest to racists? I find that more offensive than the aforementioned claims, even if false.

lol @ Hal

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Originally posted by shaw No, it's not, if it can be proven. If he can prove that this undesirable characteristic is more prevalent in black families than others, should he refrain from writing the paper? Are we going to bar research that may lead to findings that are of interest to racists? I find that more offensive than the aforementioned claims, even if false.

i think 'black people' is far too heterogeneous and vaguely defined a collection of people to study, which makes the premise inherently racist.

with such a broad group of different people, there could be any number of other circumstances or factors that account for differences in perception of status change.


there is nothing different here than the premise of writing a paper about trying to prove that 'black people like fried chicken' more than other groups of people.

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Originally posted by nefardec i think there's a racist presumption to the whole thing, that is that black people should have any different attitudes about status in the first place, that the question posed is seen as legitimate. so i think you've already done a good job appearing racist. it's not clear yet if you are being discriminatory or supremacist, but definitely racist.

I didn't see this edit until just then. The presumption isn't racist, because there's no element of discrimination or superiority here. Rather, the issue is rooted in historical and socio-economic circumstances, having nothing to do with skin colour or genetics. Pointing out such differences is entirely different from a bigoted "niggers are dumb, huh?"

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Originally posted by nefardec and i think your objective is pretty vague.

Yes, it will be a tangent to the main points of the article. It is a vague idea at the moment, and I want to examine whether it has any weight.

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Originally posted by nefardec first of all you have to define 'status' in a way that is meaningful across many disparate groups of people.

Which is why I made the point about people seeking status in different ways.

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Originally posted by nefardec and you also need to prove that the a black rapper who brag about his 'status' change is somehow more meaningful than a non black person who posts a photo of their child's college graduation on their mcdonalds cash register.

ditto.

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Originally posted by nefardec i think you should change your focus from 'black people' to 'hip hop culture'

That's a horrible way to do things, because it inherently makes readers think that you're hiding latent racism by mentioning a subculture so heavily related to the black community, rather than actually coming out and saying what you mean. I want to be clearer than that.

Also, hip-hop was created by, and continues to be dominated by black artists. Thus, it's a reasonable assumption that hip-hop culture reflects some aspect of how the wider "black community" thinks and feels.

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Originally posted by nefardec i think 'black people' is far too heterogeneous and vaguely defined a collection of people to study, which makes the premise inherently racist. with such a broad group of different people, there could be any number of other circumstances or factors that account for differences in perception of status change. there is nothing different here than the premise of writing a paper about trying to prove that 'black people like fried chicken' more than other groups of people.

In that case, all it means is that he's making this hard on himself (by not narrowing the focus), not that it's an inherently racist premise. As long as he intends (as he seems to plan on doing) to research this sufficiently to either prove or disprove his hypothesis, I fail to see the problem with making an evaluation of a large group of people.

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Originally posted by shaw No, it's not, if it can be proven. If he can prove that this undesirable characteristic is more prevalent in black families than others, should he refrain from writing the paper? Are we going to bar research that may lead to findings that are of interest to racists? I find that more offensive than the aforementioned claims, even if false.

Thing is, I didn't actually say anything about undesirable characteristics. You assumed I meant that one was superior to the other, which is exactly what I want to avoid. I'm merely trying to point out a difference, rather than judge.

You could search Amazon for book ideas. Henry Louis Gates is well known for african american studies. A more accurate descriptive term would be "hip-hop pop culture" or "urban black street culture". Black culture is too broad of a term and will get you in trouble. You would do well to make a distinction between what you see in music videos verses real life.

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Originally posted by Domesticated Thing is, I didn't actually say anything about undesirable characteristics. You assumed I meant that one was superior to the other, which is exactly what I want to avoid. I'm merely trying to point out a difference, rather than judge.

If he felt that placing great importance on social 'status' symbols was a positive trait, he wouldn't be taking offense to your premise and callet an exercise in racism.

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Originally posted by igottaknow A more accurate descriptive term would be "hip-hop pop culture" or "urban black street culture". Black culture is too broad of a term and will get you in trouble.

Ffs.

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Originally posted by shaw Read the thread.

NO U!

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Originally posted by Domesticated That's a horrible way to do things, because it inherently makes readers think that you're hiding latent racism by mentioning a subculture so heavily related to the black community, rather than actually coming out and saying what you mean. I want to be clearer than that.

but i thought you said it wasn't racist?

Egads, n- not - not RACISM! Anything but that!

Step off it. It's fucking racism. It is. There exist differences between people. He's not drumming up some manifesto on how we should stamp out some culture or another, but attempting to research if there exists any data to support one of the many whys of how human groups came to differ in the first place.

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Originally posted by nefardec but i thought you said it wasn't racist?

It's not. Employing euphemisms leads people to think you've got something to hide. While my idea does seem to deal primarily with hip-hop culture, I want to understand how hip-hop culture got this way. That is, whether it's just an amplification of a subtler element of wider black culture, or whether it was spawned some other way.

You will end up with a confounding factor, Socio Economic Status. It will boil down to that. If you find difference in ethnicity while controlling for SES, then you got something.

Til then, you are dressing up your poop in a prom dress and calling it a date.

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Originally posted by Boomer187 Til then, you are dressing up your poop in a prom dress and calling it a date.

This is an option? Fuck.

If anything you should focus on black people (African American) putting more emphasis on displaying the fact that they've attained a high(er) social status by using physical objects of high value to do so.

But even then I don't think you'd be right in saying that this is an African American phenomenon.

black people don't like fried chicken more than other races???

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