Читать книгу Essentials of Sociology - George Ritzer - Страница 47

Du Bois is best known in sociology for his theoretical ideas, in particular the “color line” existing between whites and blacks in the United States. This barrier was physical in the sense that African Americans could be distinguished visually, through their darker skin color, from white Americans. The barrier was also political in that much of the white population did not see African Americans as “true” Americans. As a result, they denied African Americans many political rights, such as the right to vote. And the barrier was psychological because, among other things, African Americans found it difficult to see themselves in ways other than the ways in which white society saw them.

W. E. B. Du Bois was a pioneer in efforts to bring a focus on race to the field of sociology.

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One of Du Bois’s goals, especially in The Souls of Black Folk ([1903] 1966), was to lift the veil of race and give whites a glimpse of “Negroes” in America. He also wanted to show blacks that they could see themselves in a different way, especially outside the view that white society had prescribed for them. Politically, he hoped for the day when the veil would be lifted forever, thereby freeing blacks. However, he did understand that destroying the veil of race would require a great deal of time and effort.

Trending The Scholar Denied: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Birth of Modern Sociology (University of California Press, 2015)