Democracy Remixed: Black Youth and the Future of American Politics

by Cathy J. Cohen

In Democracy Remixed , award-winning scholar Cathy J. Cohen offers an authoritative and empirically powerful analysis of the state of black youth in America today. Utilizing the results from the Black Youth Project, a groundbreaking nationwide survey, Cohen focuses on what young Black
Americans actually experience and think--and underscores the political repercussions. Featuring stories from cities across the country, she reveals that black youth want, in large part, what most Americans want--a good job, a fulfilling life, safety, respect, and equality. But while this
generation has much in common with the rest of America, they also believe that equality does not yet exist, at least not in their lives. Many believe that they are treated as second-class citizens. Moreover, for many the future seems bleak when they look at their neighborhoods, their schools, and
even their own lives and choices. Through their words, these young people provide a complex and balanced picture of the intersection of opportunity and discrimination in their lives. Democracy Remixed provides the insight we need to transform the future of young Black Americans and American
democracy.

Genres: Politics, Social Justice, Race, Nonfiction, Political Science, Cultural Studies, Education

304 pages, Hardcover

First published August 18, 2010

Reviews

[Nat Baldino · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book felt very important to read amidst all the talk about who is and isn't voting next week. Cohen, always a nuanced writer, uses qualitative and quantitative analysis from BYP100 to look at the complexities of the cultural and political efficacy of black youth in the years following Obama's election. What she finds shouldn't be surprising, but probably is to most readers because of the binary-d ways neoliberalism has casted personal responsibility and agency: you can be both oppressed by systems and make bad decisions! One does not negate the other. In fact, you can be very well aware of both occurring in your lives simultaneously.

Besides that, it was a good look at how feelings of efficacy and citizenship affect the sort of politics one does or does not engage in. Of course white liberals are more outwardly likely to vote, and people from marginalized identity and class-statuses often don't feel the efficacy of voting (because...duh), but undertake community-based "politics" that don't get counted as political.

The last thing to say is that, as always, Cohen's writing is so clear and accessible, even while being packed with data and chart after chart. It is the only sociological book that has felt easy for me to read.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

I understand that Cohen is writing a political science text and not a history or sociology text, so the non-stop studies and subsequent findings are par for the course. That said, it certainly bogged down the analysis and context when every other page involved a question to urban youth. I love the content of this book and was moved by several of Cohen's chapters, but I certainly think she could have worked on the actual execution of conveying this information to make it a more lively text overall.