The concept of self : a study of black identity and self-esteem / Richard L. Allen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Allen, Richard L., 1946-

Series:

African American life series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African Americans--Race identity.

African Americans.

African Americans--Psychology.

African Americans--Social conditions.

Self-perception.

Group identity.

African diaspora.

Physical Description:

222 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Detroit : Wayne State University Press, [2001]

Summary:

Institutional racism has had a major impact on the development of African American self-esteem and group identity. Through the years, African Americans have developed strong, tenacious concepts of self partially based on African cultural and philosophical retentions and as a reaction to historical injustices. The Concept of Self examines the historical basis for the widely misunderstood ideas of how African Americans think of themselves individually, and how they relate to being part of a group that has been subjected to challenges of their very humanity.

Richard Allen examines past scholarship on African American identity to explore a wide range of issues leading to the formation of an individual and collective sense of self. Allen traces the significance of social forces that have impinged on the lives of African Americans and points to the uniqueness of their position in American society. He then focuses on the results from the National Survey of Black Americans -- a national survey of African Americans on a wide range of political, social, and psychological issues -- to develop a model of African self. Allen explores the idea of double-consciousness as put forth by W.E.B. DuBois against the more recent debates of Afrocentricity or an African-centered consciousness. He proposes a set of interrelated hypotheses regarding how African Americans might use an African worldview for the upliftment of Africans in the Diaspora.

The Concept of Self will interest students and scholars of African American studies, sociology, and population studies.

Contents:

Part 1 The Black Self: Trends, Influences, and Effects

Chapter 1 The Context of the Issues: Historical Events and Considerations 17

Chapter 2 Conceptualization and Presentation of the Self-Concept 44

Part 2 Theoretical and Empirical Examinations of the Black Self

Chapter 3 Some Issues, Questions, and Problems Surrounding the Black Self-Concept: Self-Esteem 67

Chapter 4 Some Issues, Questions, and Problems Surrounding the Black Self-Concept: Group Identity 85

Chapter 5 What Identity Is Worth: The Interrelationship Explored 106

Part 3 Theory Construction

Chapter 6 Another Look From Another Angle: A Move Toward Theory 125

Chapter 7 Epilogue: The African Self From the Past, Revelations in the Present, and a Foreshadowing of the Future 162

A The Cross-Sectional Study 181

B Tests Across the Social Structural Variables 183

C Factorial Invariance and Structured Means 190.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-217) and index.

ISBN:

0814328989

OCLC:

44132872