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Black Political Ideologies: Conceptions of African-American Subjugation and

Social Welfare Policy Intervention

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DOI: 10.1080/15588740902956415

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Black Political Ideologies: Conceptions of African-American Subjugation and

Social Welfare Policy Intervention
Jerome H. Schiele a
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 Journal of Policy Practice, 8:240–259, 2009
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1558-8742 print/1558-8750 online
DOI: 10.1080/15588740902956415

Black Political Ideologies: Conceptions

1558-8750
1558-8742
WJPP
Journal of Policy Practice,
Practice Vol. 8, No. 3, April 2009: pp. 1–32

of African-American Subjugation and Social

Welfare Policy Intervention

JEROME H. SCHIELE
Black
J. H. Schiele
Political Ideologies

Associate Dean and Professor, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia

Social welfare policies are influenced significantly by the political

ideologies of conservatism, liberalism, and radicalism. Although
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these ideologies are relevant to all racial groups, they reflect the
political traditions of white America and omit those of people of
color. African Americans have a long history of political ideologies
that have grappled with solutions to the problem of racial subjuga-
tion. Using Michael Dawson's categorization of black political
ideologies, this article examines how each ideology proposes to
resolve the social problem of African-American subjugation, and it
describes how each conceptualizes the role of social welfare policy
intervention in eradicating African-American oppression.

KEYWORDS political ideologies, African Americans, social

welfare policy, oppression, political beliefs

The activities of human service professionals are influenced significantly by

social welfare policies (Karger & Stoesz, 2005). These policies, which can be
conceived as a form of human service intervention, are formed out of broader
political perspectives generally known as political ideologies (Blau with Abra-
movitz, 2004; Jansson, 2004; Karger & Stoesz, 2005). The political ideologies
of conservatism, liberalism (both classical and contemporary), and radicalism
have been central in influencing the content and character of American social
welfare policies (Blau with Abramovitz, 2004; Day, 2006; Jansson, 2004).
Although these ideologies are relevant to all racial groups in the United States,
they are not racially neutral because they predominantly reflect the political
interests and tensions of white America (Neubeck & Cazenave, 2001).

Address correspondence to Jerome H. Schiele, Associate Dean and Professor, University of

Georgia School of Social Work, Tucker Hall, Athens, GA 30602. E-mail: jlittlem@comcast.net

240
 Black Political Ideologies 241

A racially inclusive discussion of political ideologies in the United States

should consider America’s multiracial composition and the political traditions of
people of color. Indeed, these traditions have generated long-standing and dis-
tinctive political ideologies. In the United States, these ideologies have been
influenced critically by the persistence of racial subjugation, which has politi-
cized race and created sharp power and resource disparities between people of
color and white or European Americans (Marable, 2002; McCartney, 1993).
Despite the historical ubiquity of racial subjugation, social welfare policy texts
commonly used in social work rarely underscore the racial particularism of
American political ideologies and give scant attention to those that have
emerged from people of color. This lack of attention not only limits social work’s
knowledge base but also its ability to address the problem of racial subjugation.
African Americans are one group of color whose history has been
shaped significantly by racial subjugation. The experiences of involuntary
importation, enslavement for over two centuries, and 100 years of legal and
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political disenfranchisement have placed African Americans at high risk of

persistent victimization that continues today (Akbar, 1996; Bonilla-Silva,
2001; Day, 2006). From these adverse experiences, several political ideolo-
gies have emerged in black America. These ideologies are narratives that
justify and promote specific recommendations for black political and eco-
nomic empowerment. These narratives are essentially what Dawson (2001)
calls black visions of freedom.
Using Dawson’s (2001) model, this article examines black political
ideologies’ proposals to resolve the problem of African-American subjugation,
and it describes how each ideology conceptualizes the role of social welfare
policy intervention in eradicating racial inequality. Social welfare policy
intervention can be defined as human services that emerge from social wel-
fare policies. This article focuses on governmental social welfare policy
intervention and uses Karger and Stoesz’s (2005) definition of social welfare
policy. Karger and Stoesz (2005) view social welfare policy as a subdomain
of social policy that “regulates the provision of benefits to people to meet
basic life needs such as employment, income, food, housing, health care,
and relationships” (p. 3). A major impediment to meeting these basic needs
for African Americans has been racial subjugation. Black political ideologies
have emerged to explain this subjugation and to improve the political and
economic conditions of African Americans.

BLACK POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES

AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN SUBJUGATION

Dawson (2001) identifies and examines six political ideologies that have
characterized the empowerment activities of African Americans historically
and contemporarily:
 242 J. H. Schiele

1. radical egalitarianism,
2. disillusioned liberalism,
3. black conservatism,
4. black nationalism,
5. black feminism, and
6. black Marxism.

Fundamental to understanding these ideologies is their divergent concep-

tions about African-American subjugation. These conceptions guide each
ideology’s belief about the potential and prescriptions for black empowerment
and progress in the United States.
Several writers explore black political ideologies, but Dawson (2001)
offers a broader scheme to categorize them. Dawson’s (2001) scheme also is
evidence based in that its categorization is predicated on what he refers to as
the first national survey (n = 1,206 black households) to be conducted specif-
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ically about African-American political ideologies and beliefs. As part of his

analysis, Dawson (2001) calculated the percentage of “true believers” of a
specific ideology. These believers could be placed in more than one ideolog-
ical category, in that respondents were able to express their level of agree-
ment for a variety of items. Those who agreed with all of the items used to
construct each ideological scale were deemed “true believers.” The percent-
age of true believers for each ideological category was as follows:

• Disillusioned Liberalism (40%);

• Black Nationalism (37%);
• Black Marxism (34%);
• Radical Egalitarianism (20%);
• Black Feminism (19%); and
• Black Conservatism (1.0%).

Although this article uses Dawson’s scheme as a foundation to examine

the ideologies, ideas from additional authors and historic figures are inte-
grated to underscore the distinguishing features of each. Dawson offers a
rational, historical, and evidence-based categorization of the political beliefs
of African Americans, but, like any categorization scheme, it may not capture
the complete reality of black political ideologies. Although important in orga-
nizing social patterns, categorical schemes often minimize human complexity
and fluidity. Thus, Dawson’s ideological categories, which are presented
below, should be considered “ideal types” and not rigid labels.

Radical Egalitarianism
Radical egalitarianism is a form of black liberalism that advances the
idea that African-American subjugation can be eliminated by persistently
 Black Political Ideologies 243

challenging racial inequality within the confines of the existing American

political and economic order (Dawson, 2001). Radical egalitarians support
efforts aimed at challenging the United States to inaugurate major reforms
and sustain existing policies that result in greater freedom and opportunities
for African Americans. Although radical egalitarians support regulation of
capitalism or market forces to protect the interest of ordinary working
Americans, they are not socialists. Radical egalitarians believe that socialism
limits the possibility and practice of democratic principles (Dawson, 2001).
It is the restrictions placed on the application of democratic principles
to African Americans that most concern radical egalitarians. Although radical
egalitarians vary in the tactics they use to ensure the application of demo-
cratic principles to African Americans, they rely heavily on opportunity
structure theory as their framework to explain African-American subjugation.
Opportunity structure theory maintains that all people within a given cultural
context desire the same societal outcomes, such as obtaining power, status,
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and economic security, but that the social structure inhibits many from
obtaining these outcomes legitimately and equally (Merton, 1968). The early
activism and analysis of W.E.B. Dubois and of George E. Haynes, the first
executive director of the National Urban League, heavily endorsed the ideas
of opportunity structure theory. However, Dubois (1961) and Haynes (1913)
made opportunity structure theory race centered. Today, and as it was in
Dubois’ and Haynes’ era, race centered opportunity structure theory sug-
gests that the American social structure should be transformed to provide
African Americans with equal opportunities for upward mobility and the
guarantee of basic human and civil rights.

Disillusioned Liberalism
Disillusioned liberalism, a second form of black liberalism, is an ideology of
former radical egalitarians who have become extremely disappointed and pes-
simistic with efforts toward eliminating racial inequality (Dawson, 2001). Disil-
lusioned liberals believe in the “permanency of racism” and that the problem
of African-American subjugation will not be resolved by traditional black lib-
eral proposals. This pessimism is based on the belief that whites generally are
not prepared to accept the vision of full equality for African Americans.
Disillusioned liberals are convinced that white resistance to needed
structural reforms is a permanent feature of American society and politics.
These reforms, they argue, are not in the best interest of white Americans
because they would undermine the political and economic hegemony and
privilege that they collectively enjoy (Bell, 1992; Dawson, 2001). Therefore,
disillusioned liberals conclude that African Americans who place their hope in
white America changing to sincerely abolish racism are engaged in irrational
thinking. With their hope in successful reform all but evaporated, Dawson
(2001) states that a common fate of many disillusioned liberals is that they
 244 J. H. Schiele

withdraw completely from political activism, or they align themselves with

more radical ideologies, such as black Marxism or black nationalism.

Black Conservatism
A third form of black liberalism—using the classical definition of liberalism—
is black conservatism. Unlike the other black political ideologies, black
conservatism does not implicate the American social structure for the injus-
tices experienced by African Americans. Rather, black conservatism endorses
what usually is referred to as political accommodationism that Dawson (2001)
maintains draws heavily on Booker T. Washington’s popular quote from his
1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech: “. . . Nor should we [African Americans]
permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities” (Washington, 1901,
p. 220). Thus, black subjugation for black conservatives is essentially a
problem of excessive whining among African Americans.
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To understand this better, Washington’s quote suggests several themes

critical to black conservatism. First and most obvious, African Americans
should discard their racial victim-hood by accentuating the positive aspects
of their lives and social milieu. Black conservatives argue that the racial
victimhood identity incarcerates African Americans in a doom-and-gloom
mind-set that precludes them from “picking themselves up by their bootstraps”
and becoming productive and successful Americans (McWhorter, 2003;
Steele, 2006). Racial victimhood, black conservatives continue, only keeps
African Americans in a dependency status that causes them to perpetually
seek assistance from the government or from whites. Second, the Washington
quote downplays the inimical consequences of white racial oppression.
This is especially discernible in that Washington’s speech was given one
year before the landmark 1896 Plessey v. Ferguson Supreme Court edit that
mandated the constitutionality of racially separate and equal public facilities
until the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Perhaps a final meaning of Washington’s quote is the glorification of the
American value of individualism. In this belief, success and failure have less
to do with social environmental influences or external assistance. Rather, they
reflect and are produced by the internal drive and personal responsibility of
the individual. As McWhorter (2003) contends, “But at the end of the day, it is
a human universal that achievement only comes from within” (p. 30).

Black Nationalism
Dawson (2001) conveys that a primary theme of black nationalism is support
for the idea of the black nation. He asserts that this idea has three overlap-
ping definitions: (1) the separate black nation concept based on state power
and land; (2) the “nation within a nation” idea, which suggests that African
Americans are and should be a nation within the broader United States; and
 Black Political Ideologies 245

(3) “community nationalism,” which suggests that African Americans should

exercise control of the organizations, institutions, and businesses in their
communities and that this autonomy should be undergirded by acknowl-
edging the common cultural identity of blacks. A second theme of black
nationalism discussed by Dawson is its emphasis on black self-determination.
This implies that African Americans should define and shape their own destiny
and sociopolitical location.
A final theme of black nationalism is self-reliance. Self-reliance
encompasses the spirit and meaning of community nationalism, or the
idea of collective black self-help. Black nationalism’s concept of black
self-help, however, differs from that of black conservatism. Although
black nationalism shares with black conservatism the sentiment that many
African Americans have been incarcerated by a mentality of white eco-
nomic dependence, black nationalism disagrees with the source of this
mentality and advocates for a more expansive notion of black self-help.
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Black nationalism contends that the origin of the black dependency mind-
set is the system of white supremacy, of which governmental programs are
just one component (Robinson, 2001). Because white Americans historically
have controlled America’s major institutions, and have used them to
advance their interests, black nationalists argue that this hegemony has
placed African Americans in perpetual cultural, economic, and political
dependence on whites. Unlike black conservatives, black nationalists regard
black self-help as a method to emancipate African Americans from the
oppressive grip of white supremacy, to advance the goal of collective black
liberation, and to affirm and institutionalize African-American cultural values
that are assumed to vary considerably from those of white Americans
(Akbar, 1996; Asante, 1988; Karenga, 1996; Robinson, 2001). Adopting and
advancing this expansive concept of black self-help is at the heart of black
nationalism’s resolution to the problem of African-American subjugation.

Black Feminism and Womanism

The central feature in both black feminist and womanist ideologies is the con-
fluence of a race-based analysis with a gender-based one to underscore the
dual plight of African-American women (Dawson, 2001). Both white suprem-
acy and patriarchy are considered important sources of African-American
women’s subjugation. This acknowledgment suggests that black feminism and
womanism are concerned with the oppression African-American women receive
from not only white men and women but also from black men. bell hooks
(2000) asserts that the duality of racism and sexism place African-American
women in “an unusual position in this society” (p. 16). She contends that unlike
black men and white women, black women have no “institutionalized other” to
exploit or oppress. Black men confront racism, but can benefit from sexism.
White women can be victimized by sexism, but can benefit from racism.
 246 J. H. Schiele

The recognition of intersectionality is another feature of black feminist,

but to a lesser extent, womanist ideology. Intersectionality is the belief that
to more precisely and thoroughly understand how oppression restricts the
individual black woman, one must take into consideration the interaction of
several components of individual characteristics, prominent among them
being race, gender, class, and sexual orientation (bell hooks, 2000; Collins,
1998). Intersectionality in black feminist thought also recognizes that
although African-American women share common experiences because of
the pervasiveness of racism and sexism, these shared experiences should
not be interpreted as monolithic (Collins, 1998).
Although the above characteristics of black feminism can be applied
somewhat to womanism, points of departure exist between the two black
gender-based ideologies. Hudson-Weems (2001), who promotes the idea of
Africana womanism, asserts that the primary difference between black
feminism and womanism is that womanism embraces the notion of the
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survival of African culture among African Americans generally and black

women specifically. This form of womanism suggests that African American
women’s experiences should not only be understood as a response and
adaptation to the convergence of white supremacy and patriarchy, but also
as a reflection of the continuation of traditional, west African culture.
Another distinguishing feature of womanism is that it places more
attention on the nexus between the upliftment of African-American women
and the advancement of the entire African-American community (Phillips,
2006). More emphasis is devoted to the oppression that African-American
women share with African-American men than the oppression African-
American women share with European-American women.

Black Marxism
Dawson (2001) states that black Marxism–also referred to by him as the
black radical tradition–is the black vision of freedom that combines a race-
based analysis with a class-based one to explain and eliminate the subjugation
of African Americans. Black Marxists draw heavily on a Marxist critique of
capitalism to suggest that market economies are inherently immoral and
exploitative, and that they encourage avarice and extreme material inequality
(Marx, 1992/1887). Black Marxists view racial injustice as a result or an intimate
companion of capitalist social and economic structures. For them, ending or
modifying capitalism and replacing it with some form of socialism or com-
munism would increase the likelihood of alleviating racism (Dawson, 2001).
A critical concept that penetrates the black Marxist ideology is that of
class conflict. The concept of class conflict implies that in a society or group
in which wealth is unequally distributed, one’s relationship to material
resources and power inherently places her or him in opposition with others
who have a different relationship to those resources and power (Marx,
 Black Political Ideologies 247

1992/1887). These differential relationships provide greater access to

resources and power for some and less for others. Within black Marxism,
these differential material relationships are interpreted through a racial lens
that underscores the reciprocal association between racism and capitalism
(Dawson, 2001).
Scholars of the black radical tradition like Reed (1999) and Marable
(2002) examine class conflict within the African-American community. Reed
and Marable contend that African-American leaders, who would rather pro-
mote the assumption of black solidarity, usually deny class conflict within
the African-American community. Both writers contend that the black solidarity
assumption is a ploy to advance the political and economic interests of
middle-and upper-class African Americans who pose as benefactors of lower
income blacks. They argue that the problems of joblessness, poverty, street
violence, and affordable housing are never successfully addressed or resolved
because they are not directly palpable by middle-and upper-class African
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Americans. Moreover, the assumption of cross-class black unity can lead to

false consciousness among the black masses when they reject their class inter-
ests to support the dominant ideology of black political solidarity (Reed, 1999).

BLACK POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES AND SOCIAL WELFARE

POLICY INTERVENTION

The ideas about African-American subjugation discussed above influence

the conceptions that the six black political ideologies have about social welfare
policy intervention. Like their ideas about African-American subjugation, the
ideologies also diverge considerably in their beliefs about the importance of
this intervention and its potential to eradicate racial inequality and injustice.

Radical Egalitarianism: Social Welfare Policy Intervention

as Eliminating Racial Inequality
Because of their emphasis on protest and electoral politics, radical egalitarians
encourage and attempt to affect civil rights via social welfare policy inter-
vention. Radical egalitarians believe that the best method to resolve the
problem of racial inequality is to alter governmental policies. In this regard,
radical egalitarians are enormously supportive of social welfare policy inter-
vention and cross-racial coalitions that seek to provide African Americans
with greater opportunities to enhance their social and political status. This
intervention is conceived as a protective measure that shields African Americans
from the racist attitudes and practices of some white Americans that, when
left unregulated, often support racial exclusion and injustice (Hamilton &
Hamilton, 1998).
 248 J. H. Schiele

Today, radical egalitarians continue to press for government social welfare

spending. This can be seen in the political agenda of advocacy organizations
like the NAACP and the National Urban League, and U.S. congressional
black elected officials who are all Democrats (Congressional Black Caucus,
2008). However, many radical egalitarians today are more politically moderate
and fiscally conservative. Former democratic congressman from Tennessee,
Harold Ford Jr., represents this new type of radical egalitarian. Indeed, the
term “radical” may not even apply to this new black egalitarian. New black
egalitarians such as Ford reflect the ascendancy of the ideology of political
centrism that was spearheaded in the 1980s by younger Democrats, such as
former President Bill Clinton, who helped establish the Democratic Leadership
Council (DLC), a policy advocacy organization. In 2007, Ford was
appointed as chairman of the DLC (Democratic Leadership Council, 2007).
Consistent with DLC philosophy, Ford and other moderate black egalitarians
advocate a mixed economy approach to solving the problem of racial ine-
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quality in which solutions and funding from both the public and private
sector are combined. Government is still viewed as important to address
racial inequality, but they also acknowledge that government cannot be
solely or primarily responsible for addressing the social and economic
problems that African Americans disproportionately confront.

Disillusioned Liberalism: Social Welfare Policy Intervention

as Racial Subterfuge
Because of their cynicism about America’s ability and willingness to end
racism, disillusioned liberals would be highly suspect of the intentions of
social welfare policy intervention that disproportionately targets African
Americans. They would conceive this intervention as yet another strategy to
dupe African Americans into believing that America is altruistic. Disillusioned
liberals would acknowledge the limits of social welfare policy intervention in
eradicating racial inequality. Their deep-seated despair, especially after once
believing in America’s promise of equality, would make them suspect of even
the most progressive social welfare policy intervention.
Bell (1992), a former civil rights attorney of the 1960s and 1970s, cap-
tures the essence of disillusioned liberals’ cynicism about the possibility of
traditional civil rights legislation and reforms like affirmative action. He
argues that racism in America is permanent and that it is impervious to current
civil rights legislation. Bell intimates that civil rights legislation, as currently
constructed, is ineffective in destroying racism and reducing racial inequality.
Rather, he argues that the protection and advancement of white group self-
interest has been the primary motive in the enactment of contemporary civil
rights legislation. For Bell, white or European Americans have benefited
from civil rights legislation in several ways: First, they benefit from the
diminished, public display of resentment among African Americans. In this
 Black Political Ideologies 249

sense, some have argued that civil rights laws serve a social control function
to quell the radical sentiments and protest activities of African Americans
(Piven & Cloward, 1971). Second, civil rights legislation has helped to unify
many European Americans regarding feelings of governmental alienation.
Walters (2003) contends that because many whites view civil rights policies
as anti-white, many competing white factions have unified to roll-back civil
rights gains and to restore a stronger presence of white nationalism. Third,
European Americans benefit from the notion that civil rights legislation has
eliminated the need for race-specific policies (Bonilla-Silva, 2001). The
growth of African Americans in the professional and managerial class and
their visibility in major mass-media programming, entertainment circles, and
politics have caused some to conclude that America has finally achieved
race-neutrality (Connerly, 2000). Disillusioned liberals suggest that these
achievements are insufficient in challenging the structure of white racism
and that they are used to promote the illusion of black progress and equal
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opportunity for all (Bell, 1992).

Black Conservatism: Social Welfare Policy Intervention as Expanding

Black Victimhood and Relieving White Guilt
Social welfare policy intervention, especially when it disproportionately
targets African Americans, is deplored by black conservatives. It matters less
to black conservatives whether this intervention is racially discriminatory or
oppressive. They are fundamentally concerned with the corrosive effects of
social welfare policy intervention on African Americans’ willingness to help
themselves. Social welfare policy intervention, black conservatives say, only
reinforces racial victimhood that compels African Americans to look for
answers outside of themselves (Connerly, 2000). Black conservatives also
maintain that this intervention enhances and reinforces immorality among
African Americans (McWhorter, 2003). They believe that social welfare policy
intervention causes African Americans to absolve personal responsibility
and accountability that lead to immoral behaviors such as street crime,
unwed births, high joblessness, and low educational aspirations. This perspec-
tive demonstrates black conservatives’ philosophical allegiance to political
behaviorism, which explains poverty as an outcome of immoral behaviors
and imprudent decision making (Sawhill, 2003). Black conservatives con-
tend that the greater participation of African Americans in immoral acts and
bad decision making places them at risk of further disdain by European
Americans and others who may perceive African Americans as a hindrance
to social progress (McWhorter, 2003).
Finally, and similar to disillusioned liberals and black nationalists, black
conservatives believe that the intentions of white liberals, who often pro-
mote social welfare policy intervention, are insincere. Steele (2006) asserts
that social welfare programs promoted by Great Society leaders and their
 250 J. H. Schiele

descendents are not aimed at advancing African Americans, but rather

endeavor to demonstrate white America’s dissociation from racism. White
dissociation from racism, as expressed through social welfare policy inter-
vention, is grounded in white guilt, and its purpose is to restore white liberals’
moral authority on racial issues (Steele, 2006). For Steele, advancing
governmental social welfare programs that disproportionately affect African
Americans is a tangible method white liberals use to show their moral dis-
content over racism so that they can dissociate or purge themselves of it.
Steele’s point is that this dissociation is not a function of white benevolence
but rather emerges to make whites feel more comfortable with issues of
race. This viewpoint suggests that black conservatives underscore how
social welfare policy intervention has dehumanized both black and white
Americans. Their opposition to social welfare spending appears to combine
a political justification with a psychological one.
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Black Nationalism: Social Welfare Policy Intervention as White

Racial Hegemony
Black nationalism’s acknowledgment and critique of white domination renders
it highly suspect of social welfare policy intervention, especially since this
intervention is created by and within a government controlled mostly by white
Americans (Nuebeck & Casenave, 2001). Social welfare policy intervention is
viewed as an extension of white racial hegemony aimed at regulating the lives
and restricting the political empowerment of African Americans (Wilson, 1998).
For black nationalists, both the intent and consequences of social welfare
policy intervention would be deemed harmful to African Americans.
Black nationalists would argue that American social welfare policy inter-
vention destroys the self-help and self-determination spirit of African Americans
and serves to undermine the power and potential of black liberation. The
power and potential of black liberation is best achieved, black nationalists
say, when African Americans rely on one another and institutionalize their tra-
ditional ways of helping (Akbar, 1996; Wilson, 1998). Martin and Martin
(2002) suggest that the black helping tradition in the United States emerged
from not only creative adaptations to slavery and racial discrimination but
also from cultural relics of the African past. Moreover, they contend that at the
core of the black helping tradition is spirituality, defined as “the sense of the
sacred and divine” (Martin & Martin, 2002, p. 1). This sense of the sacred and
divine is assumed to generate a strong ethic of caring and sharing, the essen-
tial ingredients of the social welfare idea (Martin & Martin, 2002). Black
nationalists believe that the traditions of black caring and sharing are impera-
tive to sustaining and advancing the black nation (Karenga, 1996).
The emphasis on affirming and institutionalizing black helping tradi-
tions also is motivated by the need among black nationalists to reject major
elements of white society. For nationalists, the politics and culture of white
 Black Political Ideologies 251

society are informed by values assumed to be significantly different from

the cultural traditions of African Americans (Asante, 1988; Karenga, 1996).
Values that accentuate individualism, materialism, and spiritual alienation—all
assumed to be products of white American culture—run counter, black
nationalists argue, to African-American traditional values that underscore
collectivity, shared responsibility, and spirituality (Asante, 1988; Karenga,
1996). Since social welfare policies are cultural products that reflect a soci-
ety’s values and priorities (Day, 2006), black nationalists would consider
these policies as instruments of both political and cultural oppression.

Black Feminism and Womanism: Social Welfare Policy Intervention

as Targeting Racism and Sexism
For the most part, black feminism and womanism would be supportive of
social welfare policy intervention, if that intervention seeks to assist rather
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than regulate. Social welfare policies frequently target African-American

women and their children because they are disproportionately represented
in poverty and in income maintenance programs (U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, 2006). Too often, however, these policies have
attempted to regulate the behavior of black women, behavior thought to be
immoral and irresponsible (Thomas, 1998). Rather than castigating black
women, black feminists and womanists contend that social welfare policy
intervention should consider how the convergence of racism and sexism
place black women at risk of poverty and socioeconomic injustice
(Nadasen, 2002; Thomas, 1998). This high-risk status also is experienced
symbolically through the historic and pejorative images that vilify black
women as sexually irresponsibility (Neubeck & Cazenave, 2001; Thomas,
1998). Since this image often is used to blame black women in poverty for
their unwed births, black feminists and womanists promote social welfare
policy interventions that underscore the structural causes of and solutions to
black women’s poverty (Nadasen, 2002).
From a black feminist and womanist viewpoint, social welfare policy
intervention based on structural explanations and remedies of poverty
could provide black women with the resources, education, and employ-
ment skills that could help lift them out of poverty. For example, Franklin
(1997), writing about the African-American family from a black feminist per-
spective, argues that social welfare programs should be expanded and
could provide resources to help African-American women to become more
independent of both white and black patriarchy. Because African-American
women have been victimized by public and private expressions of racism
and sexism, Franklin’s conclusion is that social welfare policy intervention is
necessary to remedy the abuses of these forms of oppression.
Perhaps a difference between black feminists and womanists on the
relevance of social welfare policy intervention is that womanists might
 252 J. H. Schiele

underscore how this intervention may attenuate the potential of African-

American families to engage in the ongoing struggle against white racism.
Womanists might suggest that a hidden agenda of this intervention is to
intensify conflicts and tensions between black women and men. Womanists
may be concerned that social welfare policy interventions might foster
African-American women to resent African-American men, and that this
resentment might preclude black women from acknowledging how white
racism victimizes both black men and women collectively.

Black Marxism: Social Welfare Policy Intervention in Need

of a Progressive Overhaul
Given their emphasis on class conflict and exploitation, black Marxists
would view social welfare policy intervention as part of the overall goal of
achieving more effective and efficient capitalist oppression. This is because
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this intervention often takes on an “incrementalist” approach that has less to

do with substantial change and more to do with ephemeral, political
appeasement (Marable, 2002; Piven & Cloward, 1971). According to black
Marxists, social welfare policy intervention often is ineffective at solving the
enormous problem of black poverty since it does very little to challenge and
eliminate capitalistic inequalities (Marable, 2002; Reed, 1999). Grounded in
the protestant work ethic, individualism, and allegiance to protecting the
interests of big business, American social welfare policy interventions
become what Bunche (1936) described as “state capitalism.” Bunche (1936),
who criticized Roosevelt’s New Deal policies, asserted that state capitalism
does little to eliminate or alleviate class inequities, but rather helps to
engender a class of state experts whose primary goal is to regulate the
behavior of the poor. For black Marxists, the solutions to the problem of
state capitalism are to either abolish capitalism, to render social welfare policy
interventions more progressive by establishing stronger regulation of market
forces, or to institute a policy of full-employment in which the federal
government sponsors major work programs for the poor and dispossessed.
In 1998, a group of African-American activists and scholars from the
Marxist tradition formed an organization called the Black Radical Congress
(BRC) (see Black Radical Congress, 2008). Grounded in the ideas of revolu-
tionary nationalism, radical feminism, socialism, and Marxist revolutionary
traditions, the BRC seeks to better coordinate the activities of black radicals so
that new progressive, economic strategies can be promoted. These strategies,
which are particularly aimed at addressing the social problems that dispro-
portionately affect African Americans, include the vision of social welfare
policy interventions that truly endeavor to eliminate material inequality.
Marable (1996), one of the founding members of the BRC, contends that
those of the radical tradition should not rely solely on “suprasystem” solutions
but also on “system-insider” ones like progressive social welfare policies.
 Black Political Ideologies 253

Although the BRC is primarily concerned with using these progressive policies
to abolish African-American subjugation, they also are interested in estab-
lishing multiracial and multiclass alliances with all oppressed people (Black
Radical Congress, 2008). This multiclass, multiracial approach of the BRC
affirms the belief among contemporary black Marxists that the confluence of
racism and capitalism generates misery for many diverse groups. Although
social welfare policy interventions frequently reinforce this misery, BRC
proposals seek to democratize and strengthen these interventions’ potential
for substantive social and economic change. A summary of the various
black political ideologies’ views about African-American subjugation and
social welfare policy intervention is presented in Table 1.

IDEOLOGICAL LINKS AND CONVERGENCE

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It was stated earlier that categorical schemes, such as the one presented in
this article, often limit human complexity. Dawson (2001) also acknowledges
this as a shortcoming of his model. He attempts to offset this limitation by
examining links between the six ideologies. Based on an analysis of his
national data of black political beliefs, Dawson found that the strongest
links existed between radical egalitarianism and disillusioned liberalism,
radical egalitarianism and black Marxism, and disillusioned liberalism and
black nationalism.
The convergence between radical egalitarianism and disillusioned
liberalism suggests that advocating for social welfare policy intervention to
achieve racial equality is tempered by the pessimism associated with recog-
nizing the permanence of racism. This disillusioned, radical egalitarian may
support social welfare policy intervention but may also demonstrate cynicism
about the racial fairness of governmental programs. Evidence of this conver-
gence is demonstrated by data showing strong support among African-
Americans for governmental, social welfare programs (Pew Research Center,
2005). However, because African Americans have experienced considerable
racism from social welfare policy intervention (Neubeck & Cazenave, 2001),
their optimism about the intent and potential of governmental programs
often is diminished (Dawson, 2001).
The latter years of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. may illustrate this type of
ideological convergence. It has been documented that while King remained
an ardent advocate for governmental policies and programs that sought to
end racial inequality, he also became increasingly skeptical about white
America’s willingness to effectively implement these reforms:

The great majority of Americans are . . . uneasy with injustice but unwilling
yet to pay a significant price to eradicate it. The persistence of racism in
depth and the dawning awareness that Negro demands will necessitate
 254 J. H. Schiele
TABLE 1 Black Political Ideologies and Their Ideas About African-American Subjugation and
Social Welfare Policy Intervention
African American
Ideology* subjugation
Radical Blacks lack opportunities to
Egalitarianism advance within the existing
American political and economic
order; racism is a major barrier
for ensuring the basic human &
civil rights of African Americans.
Disillusioned Whites are not committed to
Liberalism providing equal opportunities to
African Americans and will
never be; racism is deemed a
permanent feature of American
society; thus, blacks do not have
a chance in society.
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Black Blacks spend too much time
Conservatism indulging in a racial victim-hood
mindset; they spend too much
time airing racial grievances that
undermine opportunities
inherent in a racially free and
neutral society.
Black Blacks experience adverse material
Nationalism and mental consequences of
white racial hegemony; this
hegemony creates a society
wherein blacks and their history
and culture are marginalized
while Eurocentric history &
culture are celebrated.
Black Feminism Black women are victims of racism
and and sexism from whites and
Womanism black men; a major difference
between black feminism and
womanism is that womanism
highlights the oppression that
black women share with black
men more than the oppression
black women share with white
women.
Black Marxism Blacks are subjugated because of
the confluence of racism and
capitalist exploitation; class
oppression is racialized and
disproportionately victimizes
blacks; also, class conflict occurs
within the black community in
that the interests of black elites
is at odds with the black poor
and working class.
*These ideologies emanate from the research and categorical scheme of Dawson (2001).
Social welfare
policy intervention
Encourages the enactment and
sustainability of social welfare
policy intervention at all levels of
government; advocates both
protest and electoral politics.
Cynical about the possibility of
social welfare policy intervention
improving the lives of blacks;
believes that social welfare policy
intervention is ineffective in
eliminating racism because it is
not designed with the interests of
blacks in mind.
Social welfare policy intervention is
useless because it reinforces
black racial victim-hood and
dependency and provides white
liberals with superficial
dissociation from racism.
Social welfare policy intervention
reflects the interests, values, and
traditions of whites; thus, blacks
are encouraged to establish their
own social welfare organizations
that integrates their culture and
traditions.
Social welfare policy intervention is
supported if it assists rather than
castigates black women; it should
be used to eliminate racism and
sexism, but womanists believe that
this intervention may foster
resentment between black men
and black women that may prevent
their collaboration against white
racial hegemony.
Social welfare policy intervention is
as an extension of capitalist
oppression; as an appeasement to
socially control lower class people;
however, some legitimacy is given
to progressive social welfare
policies that truly endeavor to
eliminate the material inequality
disproportionately experienced by
African Americans.
 Black Political Ideologies 255

structural changes in society have generated a new phase of white resis-

tance . . . .Based on the cruel judgment that Negroes have come far
enough, there is a strong mood to bring the civil rights movement to a halt
or reduce it to a crawl. Negro demands that yesterday evoked admiration
and support, today—to many—have become tiresome, unwarranted,
and a disturbance to the enjoyment of life. Cries of Black Power and
riots are not the causes of white resistance, they are the consequences of
it. (King, 1967, pp. 11–12)

To the extent that African Americans perceive that this type of white resis-
tance continues, skepticism about the effectiveness of social welfare policy
intervention among African Americans will remain. Fundamentally, African
Americans at the ideological convergence of radial egalitarianism and disil-
lusioned liberalism wrestle with the conflict over believing in the necessity
of governmental intervention while despairing about its potential for affecting
substantive social change.
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The convergence of radical egalitarianism and black Marxism suggests

the belief in social welfare policy intervention that advances greater opportu-
nities for African Americans within the confines of American capitalism with
one that incorporates a class consciousness that is skeptical of corporate
power and the assumption of black political solidarity. Dyson (1993, 2005)
captures the essence of this convergence. Dyson champions the cause of rad-
ical egalitarianism by maintaining that American democracy must include
African Americans in meaningful and powerful societal roles if it is to be both
moral and legitimate. Racial inequality, he argues, not only prevents African
Americans from equal and meaningful participation, but it also stains America
with the stigma of social immorality. To eliminate this stigma, Dyson supports
governmental intervention that attempts to elevate the social, political, and
economic status of historically excluded groups, including African Americans.
Likewise, however, Dyson is critical of corporate America and impli-
cates it for exasperating racial and socioeconomic inequality (Dyson, 2005).
He advocates governmental regulation of corporate America to help foster
greater material equality and social justice. Dyson (1993) also rejects the
notion of organic black political and cultural solidarity by contending that
this idea denies the existence of social class, gender, and other forms social
distinction within the black community. For Dyson, this within-group racial
stratification is just as significant in shaping experiences and interpretations
as is between-group racial stratification.
The final convergence of disillusioned liberalism and black nationalism
intensifies black political pessimism because both ideologies are cynical of the
intent and corollaries of social welfare policy intervention by the government.
This intensified cynicism compels persons of this convergence to strongly
advocate for black community self-help strategies that reinforce the notion
of organic black solidarity. Organic black solidarity is interpreted as a necessary
 256 J. H. Schiele

stance to thwart and subdue the inimical effects of white racial hegemony
(Akbar, 1996), among them being the content and character of American
social welfare policy.
The black self-help thrust that emerges from this solidarity not only
affirms political pessimism but also the need to materially demonstrate racial
self-respect and pride. Assumed to have been damaged by slavery and
intergenerational racism, this racial self-respect speaks to the importance of
racial groups demonstrating their collective talents to gain both in-group
self-respect and respect from others. Marcus Garvey, founder of the Universal
Negro Improvement Association, a black nationalist organization popular in
the 1920s, captures this belief by stating:

No Negro, let him be American, European, West Indian, or African, shall

be truly respected until the race as a whole has emancipated itself,
through self-achievement and progress, from universal prejudice. The
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Negro will have to build his own government, industry, art, science,
literature and culture, before the world will stop to consider him.
(Garvey, 1986, pp. 23–24)

African Americans who hold this belief today rely on the same logic and
maintain that the massive social problems occurring in the black community
are evidence of the ineffectiveness of American social welfare policy inter-
vention (Wilson, 1998).

CONCLUSION

The history of African-American subjugation has produced several black

political ideologies. Grounded in the reality of American racism, these ideol-
ogies represent both explanations of and solutions to the problem of African-
American subjugation. They diverge significantly in their analyses of this
subjugation and in their beliefs about the potential social welfare policy inter-
vention has in eliminating racial injustice. Of the six ideologies examined, five
acknowledge racism as a prominent American feature and that it poses per-
sistent obstacles to expanding African-American freedom. However, half of
the ideologies see very little, if any, value in social welfare policy intervention
alleviating African-American subjugation, and one more offers some doubt.
In addition, the convergence of these ideologies indicates both conflicting
and intensified conceptions of social welfare policy intervention.
The implication of the finding that half of the six ideologies devalue
social welfare policy intervention and one more demonstrates reservation
should not imply that social welfare policy intervention is not needed.
When guided by the principles of social justice and democracy, social
welfare policy intervention has achieved enormous success in alleviating
 Black Political Ideologies 257

poverty and many forms of overt oppression. The 1964 Civil Rights Act
and the 1965 Voting Rights Act have done much to advance the freedom
and expand the opportunities of African Americans in the United States,
and are excellent examples of the strategic organizing and sacrifices of
1950s and 1960s civil rights policy practitioners. However, because racism
is multidimensional—occurring at many levels of human interaction and
consciousness—some may believe that social welfare policy intervention
is ineffective at addressing some of the more subtle, persistent, and insidi-
ous manifestations of racial subjugation. This type of thinking, in part,
reflects the ideologies of disillusioned liberalism, black nationalism, and,
to some extent, black Marxism. All three, with the slight exception of
disillusioned liberalism, view racism as a broad and overarching supra-
structure with far-reaching consequences and enormously complex expres-
sions that may diminish the effectiveness of social welfare policy intervention
in eliminating racism.
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Finally, compared to the other black political ideologies, black conser-

vatism has a more fundamental objection to social welfare policy interven-
tion in that it questions the relevance of the narrative of racism as a
significant impediment to black advancement and prosperity. Consistent
with other conservative ideologies, it is wedded strongly to the value of self-
reliance and the belief in a governmental “hands off” approach in the area
of social welfare policy.
The social welfare policy knowledge base of social work could benefit
from greater focus on black political ideologies. Although racism in America
has mutated away from the days of overt and explicit forms of oppression,
it remains a primary factor shaping the disparities in the quality of life for
contemporary Americans. Because of their collective focus on race, further
examination of black political ideologies might help the social welfare policy
literature to better comprehend and address the contemporary manifestations
of the very old problem of racism.

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