Customer Reviews

Blacks in the White Elite: Will the Progress Continue?

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book describes the intricate and uneasy intersection of race and class in the United States. It is a fascinating study of a group of mostly Negro high schoolers in the 60s, who won scholarships under "A Better Chance" program, that admitted them to exclusive prep schools like Groton and Foxcroft. These schools had historically [and largely still so] acted as groupings of the white elite class, in a nation that tends to deny that any such class exists.

The authors interviewed many of those Negroes recently. Through statistical studies, and anecdotes about individuals, the book shows how their lives reflected the massive changes in American society in the last 40 years. A sizable number of the interviewees rose to high ranks in corporate America, and could well be regarded as fully fledged members of an elite class.

A Marxist [if any are still around] would not regard this book with affection. It does not seem to consider the existence of the elite as a problem. Rather, it tries to show how the elite "improved" by increasing its diversity.