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The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power: Media, Race, Economics
The second edition of this Palgrave Pivot offers a history of and proof against claims of "buying power" and the impact this myth has had on understanding media, race, class and economics in the United States. For generations Black people have been told they have what is now said to be more than one trillion dollars of "buying power," and this book argues that commentators have misused this claim largely to blame Black communities for their own poverty based on squandered economic opportunity. This book exposes the claim as both a marketing strategy and myth, while also showing how that myth functions simultaneously as a case study for propaganda and commercial media coverage of economics. In sum, while “buying power” is indeed an economic and marketing phrase applied to any number of racial, ethnic, religious, gender, age or group of consumers, it has a specific application to Black America. A new foreword by Dr. Darrick Hamilton, Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy at the New School (in New York, USA), and a new chapter on cryptocurrencies are included in this new edition.
152 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2020
31 people are currently reading
1042 people want to read
About the author
Jared A. Ball
4 books25 followersJared A. Ball is Professor of Communication Studies at Morgan State University, USA. He is the curator of imixwhatilike.org, an online hub of multimedia dedicated to the philosophies of emancipatory journalism and revolutionary beat reporting.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 26, 2021
Ball is one of the most insightful commentators out there and has a seemingly limitless knowledge of the history of capitalism. He has a show where he wades in to some heated topics and disagrees with everyone and somehow ends up being right. I spoke with him once and I was trying to defend a topic and I quickly realized that I was outmatched and so I dropped it. This book is not going to be a best-seller because what Ball is selling is not snake oil--it's the tough medicine that no one wants to hear. But Ball is right--the idea of Black buying power is a myth that has been used to uphold segregation patterns. This is an idea that Ball has talked about many times on his show. It's such an appealing myth because it speaks to autonomy and self-reliance, but it is a dangerous and slippery one because it misses the broader point of the system being structured to harm and exploit. Read this book and listen to Ball's show.
April 24, 2020
Excellent interrogation of a notion that is commonly circulated myth that Black people in American have the combined economic power of a highly industrialized nation. Historically, the notion of buying power is a tool to control labor by paying them just enough to buy enough products to keep capitalism functioning, the text reveals how this myth is a tool used to promote a vision of consumer political power at the cost of deeper structural change. This is good starting point for what needs to be a deeper conversation around poltical and eocnomic stratagy around Black liberation.
January 17, 2025
“Consumerism and spending habits, good or bad, do not determine collective wealth or economic strength. No community becomes rich, nor can one become poor, as a result of their spending.” What is the myth? That Black American “buying power” is an economic indicator of the overall health, well-being, and capability of the masses of Black people. What is the propaganda? That Black American “buying power” is the vehicle for transformative change, if only Black people just learned how to spend and use this “power” on the right things.
In the Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power, Dr. Jared Ball seeks to dispel the longstanding notion that Black Americans—collectively—have ~$1 trillion in “buying power,” the majority of which is spent on frivolous endeavors and conspicuous consumption. Dr. Ball further details how this mythology serves as propaganda for the white power structure, shifting blame onto Black people for their collective condition, rather than the social order’s systematic and deliberate extraction, exploitation, and exclusion of the masses of Black people.
As Dr. Ball details, the concept of buying power may have been initially rooted in working people and labor’s desire to determine whether their compensation met or exceeded the cost of living, but it was quickly co-opted by government and media and used to stifle resistance to the social order. It was first employed by the BLS to ascertain how much working people needed to be paid to be able to afford basic goods, while still ensuring corporate profitability. However, it was later used as a tool to shift blame onto the Black masses for their economic degradation, alongside a tool for Black media moguls to attract white investment.
While Dr. Ball does a really good job detailing how buying power isn’t what proponents say it is, he sometimes takes his argument off the rails by stripping away any and all economic connotations to the term. He glosses over the point that, initially and throughout its development (despite its co-optation), buying power did have to do with how much income a particular group had, even if it was only for the purpose of consuming products made available to them. Instead of dealing with this fact, he shifts focus to the notion that buying power doesn’t address income inequality, something its proponents never even claimed. The book would have been stronger if Dr. Ball provided a comprehensive economic analysis of the extent to which Black incomes or real wages has risen (or remained flat) overtime, so as to detail whether Black people in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s (and even today) were indeed able to purchase more necessary consumer goods. Also, the point about buying power not taking into account credit and indebtedness should have been given more attention.
What Dr. Ball makes clear is that buying power is not political power, and isn’t even entirely indicative of economic power because it ignores levels of wealth and indebtedness. Further buying “power” ignores the reality that consumer spending actually empowers the owners of capital (not merely the owners of businesses), and since Black people own little to know capital, and have little to no chance to become capitalists in America, buying power (i.e. consumer spending) will never be a vehicle for economic mobility or equality. Ultimately, this book is a valuable retort to the people who claim that all Black people need to do is become more “financially literate,”—and alter their spending habits—in order to collectively advance (and close vast economic disparities) as a people.
In the Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power, Dr. Jared Ball seeks to dispel the longstanding notion that Black Americans—collectively—have ~$1 trillion in “buying power,” the majority of which is spent on frivolous endeavors and conspicuous consumption. Dr. Ball further details how this mythology serves as propaganda for the white power structure, shifting blame onto Black people for their collective condition, rather than the social order’s systematic and deliberate extraction, exploitation, and exclusion of the masses of Black people.
As Dr. Ball details, the concept of buying power may have been initially rooted in working people and labor’s desire to determine whether their compensation met or exceeded the cost of living, but it was quickly co-opted by government and media and used to stifle resistance to the social order. It was first employed by the BLS to ascertain how much working people needed to be paid to be able to afford basic goods, while still ensuring corporate profitability. However, it was later used as a tool to shift blame onto the Black masses for their economic degradation, alongside a tool for Black media moguls to attract white investment.
While Dr. Ball does a really good job detailing how buying power isn’t what proponents say it is, he sometimes takes his argument off the rails by stripping away any and all economic connotations to the term. He glosses over the point that, initially and throughout its development (despite its co-optation), buying power did have to do with how much income a particular group had, even if it was only for the purpose of consuming products made available to them. Instead of dealing with this fact, he shifts focus to the notion that buying power doesn’t address income inequality, something its proponents never even claimed. The book would have been stronger if Dr. Ball provided a comprehensive economic analysis of the extent to which Black incomes or real wages has risen (or remained flat) overtime, so as to detail whether Black people in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s (and even today) were indeed able to purchase more necessary consumer goods. Also, the point about buying power not taking into account credit and indebtedness should have been given more attention.
What Dr. Ball makes clear is that buying power is not political power, and isn’t even entirely indicative of economic power because it ignores levels of wealth and indebtedness. Further buying “power” ignores the reality that consumer spending actually empowers the owners of capital (not merely the owners of businesses), and since Black people own little to know capital, and have little to no chance to become capitalists in America, buying power (i.e. consumer spending) will never be a vehicle for economic mobility or equality. Ultimately, this book is a valuable retort to the people who claim that all Black people need to do is become more “financially literate,”—and alter their spending habits—in order to collectively advance (and close vast economic disparities) as a people.
March 1, 2025
Dr. Ball does such a phenomenal job in explaining the creation, evolution and purpose of 'black buying power' as both myth and propaganda. What was especially moving and almost painful to read was learning that one of its functions is to essentially depoliticize black Americans... to shift them away from any serious radical political analysis/organizing. It's a myth where everyone wins except black people: Corporations win. White wealthy men win. The black bourgeosie win. Black punditry/media win. Ordinary, everyday, black people lose.
His analyses of the specific form of highly advanced American propaganda and capitalism in relation to this myth were beautiful.
Read this :) It's short and biting.
His analyses of the specific form of highly advanced American propaganda and capitalism in relation to this myth were beautiful.
Read this :) It's short and biting.
April 18, 2021
We’re not going to “support Black businesses” our way to liberation. Dr. Ball clearly details how Black buying power is a myth—and that the power lies more accurately in its ability to “enrich a minuscule Black bourgeoisie en route to truly helping a far more prominent, and mostly White, power structure further enrich and protect itself.” Black people’s power is not in capitalism; it is in our ability to engage in “organized, collective, and mass political action.”
January 23, 2022
A clearly reason and well explained argument against the idea of buying power and its ability to alleviate Black poverty and racial equality.
While he does a good job deconstructing and breaking the idea's of buying power in Black America, I do think he then uses that point to then argue something that requires much more proof, without matching the level of 'required' evidence.
I think it will take more evidence of Capitalism's explicit failures to come to the conclusion that it is unable to produce positive outcomes for Black people. I think it's significant that Adam Smith was a abolitionist and he is the 'father' of capitalism. How far does that idea extend to capitalism is another question, undoubtedly. But I am still unconvinced that it, as originally devised, is a terrible economic system. I do accept the idea that this American version is totally corrupt though.
While he does a good job deconstructing and breaking the idea's of buying power in Black America, I do think he then uses that point to then argue something that requires much more proof, without matching the level of 'required' evidence.
I think it will take more evidence of Capitalism's explicit failures to come to the conclusion that it is unable to produce positive outcomes for Black people. I think it's significant that Adam Smith was a abolitionist and he is the 'father' of capitalism. How far does that idea extend to capitalism is another question, undoubtedly. But I am still unconvinced that it, as originally devised, is a terrible economic system. I do accept the idea that this American version is totally corrupt though.
August 11, 2020
Dr. Ball's book needs to just get put on that permanent "must-reads" if you want to be able to talk about ANYTHING going with the Black community. He takes a cutlass to the dominant mythologies that make Black peoples standing in this country not about state degradation, but of Black moral failing. This is an essential read and frankly, it helps demystify what confuses so many of us. Bravo.
August 19, 2023
As he does in the first edition of this book, Ball lays out the thinking and intent behind the propagation of a myth, and its effects on Black people in an easy to follow, although sometimes repetitive way. Cant recommend enough.
August 8, 2020
A beautiful racist argument that the black community is powerless and only faith in god-the government can save it.
January 19, 2021
A well-documented and persuasive argument against the Myth of Black Buying Power. I am not an economist, but even I can understand the arguments he makes and the evidence he puts forward. I tend to agree with his findings, as I can’t imagine the collective Black Community having trillions of dollars just sitting around that we aren’t using. It’s also, in my personal opinion, sad to see so many black celebrities, rappers, etc champion these ideas as if simply spending your money at a black-owned store is going to somehow solve racism or lift you out of poverty.
I don’t know the answer, to be honest, but if I were to lean towards anything being a solution, it’d have to be education. Jay-Z telling people not to spend money on fancy cars or clothes in songs isn’t enough, nor is even one of my favorite rappers, Killer Mike, telling us to invest in his bank going to help much either. We have to be able to make smarter financial decisions and avoid the pitfalls that continue keep poor people poor, and that doesn’t just go for black people. I do like how the book mentions and goes in detail about how politics and public policy are part of the issue too. It’s less of a single issue with one solution and more of a massive web of entangled issues with no easy solutions.
Anyway, good book. I’d recommend it to anyone interested in economics.
I don’t know the answer, to be honest, but if I were to lean towards anything being a solution, it’d have to be education. Jay-Z telling people not to spend money on fancy cars or clothes in songs isn’t enough, nor is even one of my favorite rappers, Killer Mike, telling us to invest in his bank going to help much either. We have to be able to make smarter financial decisions and avoid the pitfalls that continue keep poor people poor, and that doesn’t just go for black people. I do like how the book mentions and goes in detail about how politics and public policy are part of the issue too. It’s less of a single issue with one solution and more of a massive web of entangled issues with no easy solutions.
Anyway, good book. I’d recommend it to anyone interested in economics.
December 30, 2020
This is such a critical book to understand why it is ridiculous to claim Black purchasing power even though it forms some capacity of racial pride. The economic disparity and wealth gap between black Americans and white Americans as well as between poor and wealthy blacks need to be closed before any substantial change can be made. Even movements like BLM are pushing forward this myth. Super quick and critical read.
January 28, 2021
Dr. Ball has put forward a comprehensive analysis of the Black Community’s economic plight and that our buying power is one of the biggest forms of disinformation that has been perpetuated. Despite having over 10 years of academic research Dr. Ball presents his analysis in the working person’s language. Great piece of work.
October 31, 2021
WATCH THE INTERVIEW I DID WITH Dr. BALL HERE:https://youtu.be/x0xu7NByY2k?t=3786
Fantastic. Well sourced, incredibly important deconstruction of the myth of black buying power. No, black americans cannot just "buy their way into liberation", and here Dr. Ball explains why!
What's more, this book is FREE from the publisher (the ebook version that is), be sure to pick it up!
Fantastic. Well sourced, incredibly important deconstruction of the myth of black buying power. No, black americans cannot just "buy their way into liberation", and here Dr. Ball explains why!
What's more, this book is FREE from the publisher (the ebook version that is), be sure to pick it up!
February 28, 2021
Good Book.
This book gives a well rounded analysis of the idea of Black Buying Power” that is so commonly promoted. We need to learn from our own pre-colonial, pre-slavery history.
This book gives a well rounded analysis of the idea of Black Buying Power” that is so commonly promoted. We need to learn from our own pre-colonial, pre-slavery history.
January 12, 2026
Lots of mistakes a better editor might have been able to fix. Lots of odd phrasing and punctuation choices as well. .
That said, this book does a great of of breaking down why "buying power" isn't real. I would say that I'd like the alternatives to be more clearly spelled out, but I think Jared A. Ball cites a lot of resources that he would probably prefer the readers go and explore themselves.
That said, this book does a great of of breaking down why "buying power" isn't real. I would say that I'd like the alternatives to be more clearly spelled out, but I think Jared A. Ball cites a lot of resources that he would probably prefer the readers go and explore themselves.
June 14, 2022
Good read on the limits to claims of Black buying power, including media's effect in continuing the myth.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews