[PEN-L:3244] pledge of allegiance

[Alex Campbell <ncesa1@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Michael Yates wrote:

>Would it been too much to expect her to
>have seen the hypocrisy of the pledge of allegiance with its propaganda
>of "liberty and justice for all"?  How could any black person believe
>this, let alone pledge allegiance to it?

Jennifer Hochschild, in _Facing up to the American Dream_, poses some
interesting answers to this question.  Through quite extensive survery data,
she shows a _stronger_ faith in the American Dream (her operationalization
of the dominant ideology) among the impoverished black community than among
middle class black folk.

She explains this seeming contradiction as due, in part, to the
psychological needs of people at the lower end of the socio-economic scale:

        The relative invisibility of white domination compared with the constant
        pressure of poverty, danger, and degrading surroundings works in an
odd way to
        reinforce poor African Americans' belief in the American dream. The
United States
        has never had a robust socialist tradition that teaches people to
understand
        poverty as a structural phenomenon in which they happen to be
caught. ...

        Thus someone for whom poverty fells like a more severe day-to-day
problem
        than racism has almost no ideological choices boeyond the American dream
        that plausibly offer a way our of immediate grinding necessity. And the
        paucity of extant ideological alternatives is reinforced by the lack of
        enough money, organizational connections, and emotional space to develop
        an alternative of one's own. ....

        In such a context, faith in the American dream is intelligible, even
wise.
        After all, the dream does have some real virtues. Its commitment to
individual
        autonomy, equality, and rights has pushed our nation far from the
slavery
        and serfdom of a century ago, and its emphasis on hope has deep
        psychological resonance.  Furthermore, many African Americans have
succeeded
        according to its precepts -- certainly more than have succeeded by
the precepts
        of nationalism, republicanism, or socialism. ....

        ...

        Even the internal contradictions of the American dream can make it
easier
        rather than harder for poor African Americans to believe in it. By
submerging
        structural reasons for failure ... makes it appear that the reasons
for failure
        really are individual, and thus subject to conquest by any one
individual, or
        even all individuals. ... Thus even if (or because) the American
dream fails
        as a description of American society, it is a highly seductive
prescription
        for succeeding in that society to those who cannot see the
underlying flaw.
        (pp. 216-18)


She argues that along with schools, the major institutions helping to
sustain faith in the dominant system, are: churches, community groups,
television, family, ... and "sheer stubborn determination."

Now, Prof. Yates points out these teachers have clearly won real gains and
entry into the middle class. But entry into the middle class is not what
Hochschild finds really turns the middle class against the dominant system,
but the persistent racism that they continue to encounter after they reach it.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alex Campbell
Assistant to the President, National Center
for Economic and Security Alternatives
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2000 P Street, NW
Suite 330
Washington, DC 20036
202 986 1373 (voice)/ 202 986 7938 (fax)
ncesa1@xxxxxxxxxxx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~