Caste, Class, and Race

by Oliver Cromwell Cox

A 1948 sociological analysis of the issues of caste, class, and race relations in the United States and the world

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology, Race, History, Politics, Economics, Philosophy

1 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1948

About the author

Oliver Cromwell Cox (1901–1974) was a Trinidadian-American sociologist noted for his early Marxist viewpoint on fascism. Cox was a Marxis who criticized capitalism and race in Foundations of Capitalism (1959), Capitalism and American Leadership (1962), Capitalism as a System (1964) and his last, Jewish Self-Interest and Black Pluralism (1974). Perhaps Cox's most profound and influential book was Caste, Class and Race, published in 1948. Also in 1948 Cox published Race: A Study in Social Dynamics.

In a scathing "Introduction" to The Black Anglo Saxons by Nathan Hare, Cox ridiculed what he regarded as a misguided approach to the study of race relations he called "The Black Bourgeoisie School" headed by E. Franklin Frazier. The title of Caste, Class and Race referred to the vigorous criticism of W. Lloyd Warner's caste conception of race in the USA.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

A mind-blow and a must-read. On how racism is a relatively recent (1600s-1800s) invention. (Psst: Right now, Radical Women has pieces of it free online as part of their "Overcoming Racism: A Radical Approach" course: http://tiny.cc/1w08gw Also great stuff by Audre Lourde, W.E.B. Du Bois, & Dorothy Roberts)

I read only the pieces that are free online, but I plan to read the rest at some point...

[Andrea Bauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cox’s book is a work of immense scholarship and a must-read for anyone wanting to delve deeply into the relationships among caste, class and race. He persuasively argues that caste is not an apt descriptor for the situation of Black people in the U.S. and explains why the distinction matters. For people who would like to read a longer review, see the 2001 article by Adolph Reed Jr. called “Race and Class in the Work of Oliver Cromwell Cox,” available online. For a review of Isabel Wilkerson’s book Caste, which includes a comparison of her thought to Cox’s, see “What Caste Leaves Out,” by Hari Ramesh, also online.

The fundamentals of Cox’s book warrant five stars and more. My four stars just reflect two things. One, more has been learned by researchers outside of India about the caste system there since Cox wrote his book in the 1940s, although not to the detriment of his basic argument. Two, the book, at 624 pages, is a big commitment for the reader. It’s very detailed, more so than a non-academic reader might appreciate. :-)

There is a possible workaround though. Reading just the final section, Race, which takes up a bit more than a third of the book, will actually give you a fairly full picture of what Cox wants to communicate.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I typically don’t write reviews for books, but given how prescient and necessary this read is I felt I must. The book is 583 pages long and broken into three sections: Caste, Class, and Race. I highly recommend reading all of them because Cox does a phenomenal job tying them together.

Though this book was published in the late 40s he was absolutely correct on the state of affairs in the US. I had to push through Caste because it was mostly an unfamiliar topic to me. I am now going to read up on the caste system in India currently because this book came out a couple of years before the India constitution so much has changed.

The last 2 sections are much meatier and Race is the largest section. What I would give to know his thoughts on 2024 America and beyond.

[Michael Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for anyone really interested in the intersection of race and class.

[Mabvuto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice