The Neoliberal Turn in Black Politics

Bibliographic Data

ID4945288
AuthorsLester K Spence (0000-0003-4483-8641, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume14
Issue3-4
Pages139-159
Publication date2012-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSouls (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1099-9949 • E-ISSN: 1548-3843
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10999949.2012.763682
OpenAlexW1988663645
LanguageEN
Citations received40
References cited95

The neoliberal turn arguably has a powerful effect on black political ideas, black political practices, and black life in general; the nature of this effect has gone under-examined. In this work I seek to rectify this gap by examining neoliberal governmentality as it appears in black communities. The result should deepen our understanding of class politics within racially subjugated communities, and should push us to consider a much wider range of phenomenon when examining the way resources are distributed within already resource-poor black communities. Keywords: black politicsgovernmentalityneoliberalism Notes Before neoliberal policies were instituted, American cities were able to garner significant resources from the federal government in order to provide an array of social services. With the rising adoption of neoliberal approaches to government, federal funds were slashed, forcing cities to adopt a variety of policies designed to attract desirable populations with a focus on “the creative class” (Florida 2002 Florida , Richard L. 2002 . The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life . New York , NY : Basic Books . [Google Scholar], 2005 ——— . 2005 . The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent. , 1st ed . New York : HarperBusiness . [Google Scholar]), to makeup for reduced revenue via casinos, tourism, and cultural imaginings (Pappas 2000 Pappas , Doug. 2000 . New Stadia: Detroit and Milwaukee . Boston Baseball . [Google Scholar]; Kenny and Zimmerman 2004 Kenny , Judith T. , & Jeffrey Zimmerman . 2004 . Constructing the “Genuine American City”: Neo-Traditionalism, New Urbanism and Neo-Liberalism in the Remaking of Downtown Milwaukee . Cultural Geographies , 11 ( 1 ), 74 – 98 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), and to police populations (Herbert 2001 Herbert , Steve. 2001 . Policing the Contemporary City: Fixing Broken Windows or Shoring up Neo-Liberalism? Theoretical Criminology , 5 ( 4 ), 445 – 466 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Herbert and Brown 2006 Herbert , Steve , & Elizabeth Brown . 2006 . Conceptions of Space and Crime in the Punitive Neoliberal City . Antipode , 755 – 777 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Much of the research examining the racial politics of contemporary welfare reform is in effect an examination of neoliberalism. Punitive and increasingly bureaucratic techniques of government are used to deal with non-white populations deemed incapable of exercising freedom (Gilens 1999 Gilens , Martin. 1999 . Why Americans hate welfare: Race, media, and the politics of antipoverty policy . Chicago : University of Chicago Press .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Clawson and Trice 2000 Clawson , Rosalee A. , & Rayuka Trice . 2000 . Poverty as we know it . Public Opinion Quarterly , 64 ( 1 ), 53 – 64 .[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Schram, Soss, and Fording 2003 Schram , Sanford , Joe Soss , & Richard C. Fording . 2003 . Race and the politics of welfare reform . Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Soss, Fording, and Schram 2008 Soss , Joe , Richard C. Fording , & Sanford F. Schram . 2008 . The color of devolution: Race, federalism, and the politics of social control . American Journal of Political Science , 52 ( 3 ), 536 – 553 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). When Bill Clinton signed PRWORA in 1996 he gave states and counties the authority to modify their welfare bureaucracy as they saw fit. States with larger and more dispersed black populations were not only more likely to give local authorities responsibility in managing Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF), they were more likely to implement punitive policies (stringent time limits, strict family caps, family sanctions) than states with smaller and less dispersed black populations (Soss et al. 2008 Soss , Joe , Richard C. Fording , & Sanford F. Schram . 2008 . The color of devolution: Race, federalism, and the politics of social control . American Journal of Political Science , 52 ( 3 ), 536 – 553 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Whites are much more likely to support punitive crime measures if they associate crime with young black men (Gilliam Jr. and Iyengar 2000 Gilliam Jr. , Franklin D. , & Shanto Iyengar . 2000 . Prime suspects: The influence of local television news on the viewing public . American Journal of Political Science , 44 ( 3 ), 560 – 573 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Michael Dawson's 2011 study of Obama-era black politics stands out as does Richard Iton's (2008 Iton , Richard. 2008 . In search of the black fantastic: Politics and popular culture in the post-Civil Rights era . Oxford; New York : Oxford University Press .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) and Lester Spence's (2011 Spence , Lester K. 2011 . Stare in the darkness: The limits of Hip-Hop and black politics . Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) works on black popular culture. The work of Adolph Reed (1997 Reed , Adolph L. 1997 . W.E.B. Du Bois and American political thought: Fabianism and the color line . New York : Oxford University Press . [Google Scholar]) serves as an exception here

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