W. E. B. Du Bois and the Critique of the Competitive Society

by Andrew Douglas

Competition and competitiveness are roundly celebrated as public values and key indicators of a dynamic and forward-thinking society. But the headlong embrace of competitive market principles, increasingly prevalent in our neoliberal age, often obscures the enduring divisiveness of a society set up to produce winners and losers. In this inspired and thoughtfully argued book, Andrew J. Douglas turns to the later writings of W. E. B. Du Bois to reevaluate the very terms of the competitive society.

Situating Du Bois in relation to the Depression-era roots of contemporary neoliberal thinking, Douglas shows that into the 1930s Du Bois ratcheted up a race-conscious indictment of capitalism and liberal democracy and posed unsettling questions about how the compulsory pull of market relations breeds unequal outcomes and underwrites the perpetuation of racial animosities. Blending historical analysis with ethical and political theory, and casting new light on several aspects of Du Bois’s thinking, this book makes a compelling case that Du Bois’s sweeping disillusionment with Western liberalism is as timely now as ever.

168 pages, Hardcover

Published August 15, 2019

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short enough to be read in a day but thought-provoking enough to spawn books by itself, Douglas seeks to position Du Bois as a radical critic, a "disillusioned liberal" of neoliberalism from the time of its conception, a radical who engaged thoughtfully and creatively with the Marxist framework (similar to Fanon) whilst particularizing it to the Black tradition in the hopes of defeating the "competitive ethos" that capitalist ideological frameworks arising out of Europe and American concepts of Whiteness gave rise to in the postbellum period.

I find Douglas's work to be thought-provoking and inspiring, making me reevaluate my own perception of Du Bois's work and perhaps requiring me to undertake a re-reading of him and re-evaluate the work of Cedric Robinson. I do find two critiques worth making: when Douglas refers to the "orthodox Marxist" viewpoint, he relies upon the work of Du Bois's contemporary Abram L. Harris. Harris worked within the Marxist framework, but was not a part of the dominant Marxist-Leninist trend at the time—how was Du Bois's work and reframing of the Marxist framework received by the CPUSA, whose program and understanding of race until Browder's retreat was quite close to Du Bois's? Additionally, I think Douglas largely tip-toes around the issues. Rather than a complete condemnation of capitalism, he refers to the "competitive society," etc. In the academic climate of the United States, perhaps I would too, but I would like to think I would not.

Regardless, an invaluable contribution to the scholarship concerning the thought of W. E. B. Du Bois and his relationship to Marxism and the critique of racial capitalism.