A Poverty of the Mind
A Poverty of the Mind - New York Times
SEVERAL recent studies have garnered wide attention for reconfirming the tragic disconnection of millions of black youths from the American mainstream.
The main cause for this shortcoming is a deep-seated dogma that has prevailed in social science and policy circles since the mid-1960's: the rejection of any explanation that invokes a group's cultural attributes --- its distinctive attitudes, values and predispositions, and the resulting behavior of its members --- and the relentless preference for relying on structural factors like low incomes, joblessness, poor schools and bad housing.
Joblessness, it is often said, is due to largely weak schooling, a lack of reading and math skills at a time when such skills are increasingly required even for blue-collar jobs, and the poverty of black neighborhoods.
Unable to find jobs, black males turn to illegal activities, especially the drug trade and chronic drug use, and often end up in prison.
What's most interesting about the recent spate of studies is that analysts seem at last to be recognizing what has long been obvious to anyone who takes culture seriously: socioeconomic factors are of limited explanatory power.
The same cultural patterns can frame different kinds of behavior, and by failing to explore culture at any depth, analysts miss a great opportunity to re-frame attitudes in a way that encourages desirable behavior and outcomes.
Third, it is often assumed that cultural patterns cannot change --- the old "cake of custom" saw.
