Lexington Books
Pages: 295
Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜
978-1-4985-5449-7 • Hardback • December 2017 • $117.00 • (£90.00)
978-1-4985-5450-3 • eBook • December 2017 • $111.00 • (£85.00)
Chrystal Y. Grey earned her doctorate in sociology from the University of Kentucky.
Thomas Janoski is professor of sociology at the University of Kentucky.
Introduction: While Both Are Successful, How Can They Be So Different?
1. The Constraints and Opportunities of Vastly Different Black Histories
2. The Diverse Identities of Black Americans and Caribbeans
3. Crafting Basic Strategies for Success
4. Using More Complex Strategies for Success at Work and in the Public
5. Viewing the Other: Defending Strategies of Success among Fellow Blacks
Conclusion and Advice to the Ambitious
Grey and Janoski have produced a ground-breaking comparative study of mobility among African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans in the U.S. Drawing on both social psychological and historical-structural analysis, they deploy multiple perspectives and methods to examine each populations’ means of understanding and coping with racism.
Avoiding the cultural and class biases of previous studies, the authors investigate the unique background and context in which each group is embedded. Then, drawing on symbolic interactionist methods, they analyze interviews which allow them to identify a number of strategies respondents use to work towards success in American society.
Strategies for Success among African-Americans and Afro-Caribbeans offerssignificant advances in theory, methodology, and research design over existing inquiry into racialized populations. In so doing, the book contributes greatly to our understanding of race, culture, group identity, and social stratification.
— Steve Gold, Michigan State University
A superb analysis of how variation in the size of the black community accounts for differences in the ways that African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans respond to discrimination.
— Suzanne Model, Professor Emerita, University of Massachusetts at Amherst