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One by One from the Inside Out : Essays and Reviews on Race and Responsibility in America
America stands poised on the brink of an explosive period in race relations. Affirmative action, for a generation the major public-policy program aimed at reducing the disparity between blacks and whites, has been under strong intellectual and institutional attack by its critics and is very likely soon to be consigned to the dustbin of history. Glenn Loury views this crisis as an opportunity to move beyond our racial myopia, to assess our progress and take stock of our failures. In "One by One from the Inside Out", a pointed and often eloquent look at race in America, Loury calls on Americans of all races to break free of the rhetorical box created by obsession with preferential policies. In a gripping commentary that transcends the simplistic labels "liberal" and "conservative", Loury assails the appalling absence of candid discourse on sensitive racial issues.
In an important opening chapter, Loury posits that black American history is defined by the conflict between two important ideas. One, advocated by Booker T. Washington, argues for blacks to earn equality and acceptance through achievement. The other, associated with W.E.B. Du Bois and adopted by the civil rights movement as well as black-power groups, urges blacks to demand and agitate for all legal, social, and economic rights. White acceptance, if it mattered at all, would follow. Seeking to rescue Washington's views from ignominy, Loury argues that it is now time to restore a balance between the two great traditions and to build a new civil rights consensus around the notion of black self-improvement.
"One by One from the Inside Out" takes a hard and critical look at the controversies surrounding such issue as black-Jewish relations, welfare reform, the racial dimension in academic performance and in crime, black dependence on public assistance, the changing nature of family structure among blacks and whites, and the growing concern over "hate speech" on college campuses and elsewhere. Urging blacks to be more willing to compete on their very real merits-- and asking whites to overcome their obsession with "color-blind" and "color-conscious" policies-- Loury argues that we have failed as a nation to develop a consensus that would ensure equality of opportunity for black Americans while upholding the integrity of our democratic system.
"One by One from the Inside Out" is one brave man's moving call for all Americans to rethink their attitudes toward race, and it presents a clear and compelling vision of how to heal our country's most divisive wound.
In an important opening chapter, Loury posits that black American history is defined by the conflict between two important ideas. One, advocated by Booker T. Washington, argues for blacks to earn equality and acceptance through achievement. The other, associated with W.E.B. Du Bois and adopted by the civil rights movement as well as black-power groups, urges blacks to demand and agitate for all legal, social, and economic rights. White acceptance, if it mattered at all, would follow. Seeking to rescue Washington's views from ignominy, Loury argues that it is now time to restore a balance between the two great traditions and to build a new civil rights consensus around the notion of black self-improvement.
"One by One from the Inside Out" takes a hard and critical look at the controversies surrounding such issue as black-Jewish relations, welfare reform, the racial dimension in academic performance and in crime, black dependence on public assistance, the changing nature of family structure among blacks and whites, and the growing concern over "hate speech" on college campuses and elsewhere. Urging blacks to be more willing to compete on their very real merits-- and asking whites to overcome their obsession with "color-blind" and "color-conscious" policies-- Loury argues that we have failed as a nation to develop a consensus that would ensure equality of opportunity for black Americans while upholding the integrity of our democratic system.
"One by One from the Inside Out" is one brave man's moving call for all Americans to rethink their attitudes toward race, and it presents a clear and compelling vision of how to heal our country's most divisive wound.
- GenresRaceNonfiction
332 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1995
1 person is currently reading
177 people want to read
About the author
Glenn C. Loury
22 books119 followersGlenn C. Loury is Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences in the Department of Economics at Brown University. An award-winning economic theorist, he is the author of One by One from the Inside Out: Essays and Reviews on Race and Responsibility in America and coauthor of Race, Incarceration, and American Values.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 16, 2024
A BOOK COVERING A VERY WIDE RANGE OF TOPICS
Glenn Cartman Loury (born 1948) is Professor of the Social Sciences and Economics at Brown University; he was the first black tenured professor of economics at Harvard University.
He wrote in the Prologue to this 1995 book, “as a black intellectual making my living in the academic establishment during a period of growing racial conflict in our society, I have often experienced … dissonance between my self-concept and the socially imputed definition of who I am supposed to be. I have had to confront the problem of balancing my desire not to disappoint the expectations of others---both whites and blacks, but more especially blacks---with my conviction that one should strive to live life with integrity.” (Pg. 4) He continues, “I now understand mow this desire to be regarded as genuinely black, to be seen as a ‘regular brother,’ has dramatically altered my life. It narrowed the range of my earliest intellectual pursuits, distorted my relationships with other people, censored my political thought and expression, informed the way I dressed and spoke, and shaped my cultural interests… I used to think about the irony in the idea of some blacks seeking to excommunicate others for crimes against the race, given that the distinctions that so exercised the blacker-than-thou crowd were invisible to most others.” (Pg. 5-6)
He comments, “It is clear that the Great Society approach to the problems of poor blacks has been inadequate… it is not nearly as easy to truly help people as the big spenders would suggest. The proper measure of ‘caring’ ought not to be the size of the budget expenditures on poverty programs, if the result is that the recipients remain dependent on such programs. Moreover, many Americans have become concerned about the neutrality toward values and behavior that was so characteristic of the Great Society thrust, the aversion to holding persons responsible for those actions that precipitated their own dependence, the feeling the ‘society’ is to blame for all the misfortune in the world.” (Pg. 18) But later, he also adds, “My point to conservatives should be plain. Rather than simply incanting the ‘personal responsibility’ mantra, we must also be engaged in helping those people who so desperately need our help. We are not relieved of our responsibility to do so by the face that Ted Kennedy and Jesse Jackson are promoting legislation aimed at helping this same population with which we disagree.” (Pg. 29-30)
He notes, “For government to attempt… to mandate, or even to discuss, what the values and beliefs of any segment of the society should be is to embark on a course fraught with political, constitutional, and moral pitfalls. Moreover, in the political climate of the 1990s, concerned external observers of the black community are in no position to raise such issues if they desire to maintain their credibility as ‘liberals.’ Only blacks can talk about what other blacks ‘should’ do, think, or value and expect to be sympathetically heard. That is, only blacks can effectively provide moral leadership for their people. To the extent that such leadership is required, therefore, it must come from within.” (Pg. 40-41)
He acknowledges, “I recognize that in this book I am engaged in two related but distinct conversations… I write as a social scientist and social critic… to a national readership offering observations on how we (that is, all Americans) should think about questions of race. But I also write as a black, addressing ‘my people’ about how we (that is, black Americans) should endeavor to make progress.” (Pg. 64)
He states, “It is time to recognize that further progress toward the attainment of equality for black Americans … depends must crucially at this juncture on the acknowledgement and rectification of the dysfunctional behaviors that plague black communities, and that so offend and threaten others. Recognize this, and much else will follow.” (Pg. 72)
He observes, “If law school appointments are made to ensure appropriate group balance, as is now the case at many law schools, it could become impossible for students belonging to preferred groups to earn the same degree of honor and esteem available to others, no matter how great their individual talents. External observers will inevitably discount the lack student’s achievement to some degree because of the possibility that it was influenced by considerations of race and not solely determined by objective performance. That is, the use of racial preferences can change the social meaning of black achievement by altering the inference that an external observer could logically make on the basis of observing it.” (Pg. 112)
He argues, “Remarkably, we think that the mere announcement of the small number of blacks who attain a certain achievement constitutes an indictment of society, and not of ourselves. We practice an EXHIBITIONISM OF NONACHIEVEMENT, hurrying to advertise every instance of our underrepresentation, not recognizing that in doing so we are only announcing our own failure. For it is an axiom of this credo of racial loyalty that whey blacks do n succeed, it is whites who have failed.” (Pg. 184-185)
At a lecture, he admitted, “The mention of God may seem quaint or vaguely inappropriate at such an august academic gathering, but it is clear that the behavioral problems of the ghetto… involve spiritual issues. A man’s spiritual commitments influence his understanding of his parental responsibilities. No economist has yet to devise an incentive scheme for eliciting parental involvement in a child’s development that is as effective as the motivations of conscience deriving from the parents’ understanding that that are God’s stewards in the lives of their children.” (Pg. 212)
He reviews Cornel West’s book ‘Race Matters’: “Americans lack a common vision … of what we are trying to achieve… as we struggle with the legacy of African slavery. Indeed, Americans of all races seem to be confused about who ‘we’ are. In ‘Race Matters’ Cornel West… tries to bring order to our collective intellectual chaos on this vexing question. Sadly for all of us, he does not succeed… because West writes more in the manner of the prophet than in that of the analyst, he never stays long enough with any one point to convince us that he has gotten it right.” (Pg. 217-218)
He continues, “He does not acknowledge that the fear, anger, and contempt felt by many whites in the face of the urban violence perpetrated by blacks and Latinos are legitimate reactions. Nor does he consider the poisonous effect on race relations caused by the antisocial behavior of some among the urban poor. It is not enough to note, as West does, that such behavior is the fruit of hopelessness and despair now rampant among poor blacks. Bridging the racial gap requires the affirmation by minority advocates of the legitimacy of those social norms that the hopeless and desperate are wont to violate... blacks assaulting Koreans reveal something else---envy and resentment of the material success of hardworking people … that stands as an indictment of the claim that the country affords little opportunity for nonwhites to advance.” (Pg. 220-221)
He recalls, “I want to describe my spiritual journey… as evidence of what Christ has done for me… the fact is that I have been born again… Although a wonderful and beautiful woman loved me and had agreed to become my wife, I was unable and unwilling to … be faithful to that relationship… I was dead in spirit, despite the fact that I had professional success as a tenured professor at Harvard… But for me there was no real joy…. I was dead because of my slavery to drugs and alcohol… These developments in my life eventually came to a point where, without some intervention, my marriage probably would not have survived… What happened for me was that some people came forward to offer words about the Gospel…” (PG. 311-313)
This book will be of great interest for conservatives interested in racial/ethnic issues.
Glenn Cartman Loury (born 1948) is Professor of the Social Sciences and Economics at Brown University; he was the first black tenured professor of economics at Harvard University.
He wrote in the Prologue to this 1995 book, “as a black intellectual making my living in the academic establishment during a period of growing racial conflict in our society, I have often experienced … dissonance between my self-concept and the socially imputed definition of who I am supposed to be. I have had to confront the problem of balancing my desire not to disappoint the expectations of others---both whites and blacks, but more especially blacks---with my conviction that one should strive to live life with integrity.” (Pg. 4) He continues, “I now understand mow this desire to be regarded as genuinely black, to be seen as a ‘regular brother,’ has dramatically altered my life. It narrowed the range of my earliest intellectual pursuits, distorted my relationships with other people, censored my political thought and expression, informed the way I dressed and spoke, and shaped my cultural interests… I used to think about the irony in the idea of some blacks seeking to excommunicate others for crimes against the race, given that the distinctions that so exercised the blacker-than-thou crowd were invisible to most others.” (Pg. 5-6)
He comments, “It is clear that the Great Society approach to the problems of poor blacks has been inadequate… it is not nearly as easy to truly help people as the big spenders would suggest. The proper measure of ‘caring’ ought not to be the size of the budget expenditures on poverty programs, if the result is that the recipients remain dependent on such programs. Moreover, many Americans have become concerned about the neutrality toward values and behavior that was so characteristic of the Great Society thrust, the aversion to holding persons responsible for those actions that precipitated their own dependence, the feeling the ‘society’ is to blame for all the misfortune in the world.” (Pg. 18) But later, he also adds, “My point to conservatives should be plain. Rather than simply incanting the ‘personal responsibility’ mantra, we must also be engaged in helping those people who so desperately need our help. We are not relieved of our responsibility to do so by the face that Ted Kennedy and Jesse Jackson are promoting legislation aimed at helping this same population with which we disagree.” (Pg. 29-30)
He notes, “For government to attempt… to mandate, or even to discuss, what the values and beliefs of any segment of the society should be is to embark on a course fraught with political, constitutional, and moral pitfalls. Moreover, in the political climate of the 1990s, concerned external observers of the black community are in no position to raise such issues if they desire to maintain their credibility as ‘liberals.’ Only blacks can talk about what other blacks ‘should’ do, think, or value and expect to be sympathetically heard. That is, only blacks can effectively provide moral leadership for their people. To the extent that such leadership is required, therefore, it must come from within.” (Pg. 40-41)
He acknowledges, “I recognize that in this book I am engaged in two related but distinct conversations… I write as a social scientist and social critic… to a national readership offering observations on how we (that is, all Americans) should think about questions of race. But I also write as a black, addressing ‘my people’ about how we (that is, black Americans) should endeavor to make progress.” (Pg. 64)
He states, “It is time to recognize that further progress toward the attainment of equality for black Americans … depends must crucially at this juncture on the acknowledgement and rectification of the dysfunctional behaviors that plague black communities, and that so offend and threaten others. Recognize this, and much else will follow.” (Pg. 72)
He observes, “If law school appointments are made to ensure appropriate group balance, as is now the case at many law schools, it could become impossible for students belonging to preferred groups to earn the same degree of honor and esteem available to others, no matter how great their individual talents. External observers will inevitably discount the lack student’s achievement to some degree because of the possibility that it was influenced by considerations of race and not solely determined by objective performance. That is, the use of racial preferences can change the social meaning of black achievement by altering the inference that an external observer could logically make on the basis of observing it.” (Pg. 112)
He argues, “Remarkably, we think that the mere announcement of the small number of blacks who attain a certain achievement constitutes an indictment of society, and not of ourselves. We practice an EXHIBITIONISM OF NONACHIEVEMENT, hurrying to advertise every instance of our underrepresentation, not recognizing that in doing so we are only announcing our own failure. For it is an axiom of this credo of racial loyalty that whey blacks do n succeed, it is whites who have failed.” (Pg. 184-185)
At a lecture, he admitted, “The mention of God may seem quaint or vaguely inappropriate at such an august academic gathering, but it is clear that the behavioral problems of the ghetto… involve spiritual issues. A man’s spiritual commitments influence his understanding of his parental responsibilities. No economist has yet to devise an incentive scheme for eliciting parental involvement in a child’s development that is as effective as the motivations of conscience deriving from the parents’ understanding that that are God’s stewards in the lives of their children.” (Pg. 212)
He reviews Cornel West’s book ‘Race Matters’: “Americans lack a common vision … of what we are trying to achieve… as we struggle with the legacy of African slavery. Indeed, Americans of all races seem to be confused about who ‘we’ are. In ‘Race Matters’ Cornel West… tries to bring order to our collective intellectual chaos on this vexing question. Sadly for all of us, he does not succeed… because West writes more in the manner of the prophet than in that of the analyst, he never stays long enough with any one point to convince us that he has gotten it right.” (Pg. 217-218)
He continues, “He does not acknowledge that the fear, anger, and contempt felt by many whites in the face of the urban violence perpetrated by blacks and Latinos are legitimate reactions. Nor does he consider the poisonous effect on race relations caused by the antisocial behavior of some among the urban poor. It is not enough to note, as West does, that such behavior is the fruit of hopelessness and despair now rampant among poor blacks. Bridging the racial gap requires the affirmation by minority advocates of the legitimacy of those social norms that the hopeless and desperate are wont to violate... blacks assaulting Koreans reveal something else---envy and resentment of the material success of hardworking people … that stands as an indictment of the claim that the country affords little opportunity for nonwhites to advance.” (Pg. 220-221)
He recalls, “I want to describe my spiritual journey… as evidence of what Christ has done for me… the fact is that I have been born again… Although a wonderful and beautiful woman loved me and had agreed to become my wife, I was unable and unwilling to … be faithful to that relationship… I was dead in spirit, despite the fact that I had professional success as a tenured professor at Harvard… But for me there was no real joy…. I was dead because of my slavery to drugs and alcohol… These developments in my life eventually came to a point where, without some intervention, my marriage probably would not have survived… What happened for me was that some people came forward to offer words about the Gospel…” (PG. 311-313)
This book will be of great interest for conservatives interested in racial/ethnic issues.
September 23, 2008
I appreciate the ideas presented by Glenn Loury in this book of essays, especially since he never wavers from examining the complexity surrounding the issue of race in America. Like the writing of Orlando Patterson, this is a refreshing alternative to the knee-jerk reactions of both liberals and conservatives in response to complicated race matters. This type of honest examination and dialogue must continue in order to eradicate the ongoing problems of racism in America.
My critique of the book is that it seems somewhat repetitive and also feels slightly outdated since it was written in 1995. Also, the final very personal essay about the author's conversion to Christianity seemed out of place in a book comprised of critical analysis.
My critique of the book is that it seems somewhat repetitive and also feels slightly outdated since it was written in 1995. Also, the final very personal essay about the author's conversion to Christianity seemed out of place in a book comprised of critical analysis.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews