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.

SUNY series in African American studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Plantation life.

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

African Americans.

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

Poverty.

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

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

Elite (Social sciences).

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

White people.

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

Social capital (Sociology).

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

Delta (Miss. : Region).

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

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

Physical Description:

1 online resource (267 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, c2006.

Language Note:

English

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:

The Theoretical Framework

The Influence of Local Elites in the Mississippi Delta

The Plantation Political and Economic Culture

The "Cotton Obsessed, Negro Obsessed" Delta Plantation Economy

Black Mobilization and Elite Resistance During the Height of Traditionalistic Plantation Political Rule

The Transformation and Legacies of the Plantation Culture

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

The Transformation of Delta Plantation Politics

Building Black and Intergroup Social Capital Ties in the Delta

Lessons Learned

The Challenges of Using Social Capital to Combat Community Ills in the Mississippi Delta.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

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

ISBN:

9780791481585

0791481581

9781429412810

142941281X

OCLC:

76299755