The transformation of plantation politics : Black politics, concentrated poverty, and social capital in the Mississippi Delta / Sharon D. Wright Austin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wright Austin, Sharon D., 1965-

Series:

SUNY series in African American studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Plantation life--Mississippi--Delta (Region).

Plantation life.

Social capital (Sociology).

White people.

Social conditions.

Elite (Social sciences).

African Americans.

Politics and government.

Mississippi--Delta (Region).

African Americans--Mississippi--Delta (Region)--Politics and government.

Poverty--Political aspects--Mississippi--Delta (Region).

Poverty.

Poverty--Political aspects.

African Americans--Mississippi--Delta (Region)--Social conditions.

Elite (Social sciences)--Mississippi--Delta (Region).

White people--Mississippi--Delta (Region)--Social conditions.

Social capital (Sociology)--Mississippi--Delta (Region).

Delta (Miss. : Region)--Race relations.

Delta (Miss. : Region).

Delta (Miss. : Region)--Politics and government.

Delta (Miss. : Region)--Social conditions.

Physical Description:

xvii, 247 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2006]

Summary:

The Transformation of Plantation Politics explores the effects of black political exclusion, the sharecropping system, and white resistance on the Mississippi Delta's current economic and political situation. Sharon D. Wright Austin's extensive interviews with residents of the region shed light on the transformations and legacies of the Delta's political and economic institutions. While African Americans now hold most of the major political offices in the region and are no longer formally excluded from political participation, educational opportunities, or lucrative jobs, Wright Austin shows that white wealth and black poverty continue to be the norm partly because of the deeply entrenched legacies of the Delta's history. Contributing to a greater theoretical understanding of black political efforts, this book demonstrates a need for a strong level of black social capital, intergroup capital, financial capital, political capital, and a human capital of educated and skilled workers.

Contents:

Part 1 The Theoretical Framework

Chapter 1 The Influence of Local Elites in the Mississippi Delta 3

Part 2 The Plantation Political and Economic Culture

Chapter 2 The "Cotton-Obsessed, Negro-Obsessed" Delta Plantation Economy 25

Chapter 3 Black Mobilization and Elite Resistance during the Height of Traditionalistic Plantation Political Rule 41

Part 3 The Transformation and Legacies of the Plantation Culture

Chapter 4 The Transformation of the Delta's Economy?: Legalized Gaming, Economic Change, and the Persistence of Black Concentrated Poverty 61

Chapter 5 The Transformation of Delta Plantation Politics 95

Chapter 6 Building Black and Intergroup Social Capital Ties in the Delta 133

Chapter 7 Concentrated Poverty, Political Power, and Social Capital in the Mississippi Delta 169.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-233) and index.

ISBN:

0791468011

OCLC:

61461521

Publisher Number:

9780791468012