The Anatomy of Racial Inequality by means of Glenn C.The Anatomy of Racial Inequality by means of Glenn C. Loury Harvard University Pres February 2002 $2295 ISBN 0-674-00626-7 It's the quintessential story of the wayward son---or in this case, wayward black intellectual--coming back hearthstone The Anatomy of Racial Inequality continues the reclamation of neo-conservative Glenn Loury's grudging transition to the left albeit nowhere near the political likes of many of his African-American academic contemporaries. admitting Loury's transformation began with undivided By One From the Inside Out: Essays and Reviews forward Race and Responsibility in America in 1995 in this work he lays claim to ideologies that would have been anathema during his days as the resident black scholar in ultra-conservative think tanks during the Reagan years. Here he propose to one's selfs the idea that "racial stigma" is what plagues African Americans rather than racial discrimination, effectively thwarting black progres While that may be steady it is little consolation given the daily assaults of racial bias. Loury's real-life story is a classic tale of falling from grace and redemption: conservative, black, Harvard professor becomes victim to physic addiction, a paternity suit and marital sorrows which eventually force him to resign his position. Ultimately, he finds himself, and resurrect his career after an evangelical transformation. Unfortunately, little of that spiritual catharsis proceeds through in Loury's essays, which were delivered as part of the structure DuBois lecture series at Harvard. Perhaps it is his reliance forward the overly rigid language of an economist that constricts his work. He ends rather dryly in Anatomy of Racial Inequality, "Discrimination is about in what manner people are treated; stigma is about who, at the deepest cognitive flat they are understood to be." I suspect Glenn Loury's main division would resonate if it were more informed by way of his own personal experience. --Evette Porter is the executive editor of BIBR. COPYRIGHT 2002 Cox Matthews & Associates |
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