Sacrifice, Self-Interest, or Both? Probing Black Elites’ Political Ideologies and Decisions

• In Event: Conceptualizing Black Consciousness Within Motivation Research

Abstract

Though the majority of Black Americans are subject to economic precarity, a sect of the population, which this paper refers to as the Black Elite, earns lucrative salaries in White-collar professions and is firmly entrenched in a corporate landscape that increasingly prioritizes diversity (Moslimani et al., 2023). In 1903, W.E.B. DuBois famously urged this class — the “Talented Tenth” — to pursue higher education and lead Black America toward collective progress (DuBois, 1903a). In light of DuBois’ appeal and Black elites’ elevated status, resources, and influence, exploring the political beliefs and behaviors of this class are of particular importance.
Since the abolition of chattel slavery, Black elites have embraced political visions that reconcile Black progress with racial capitalism — a political economic order sustained by the exploitation of Black and Brown labor in the domestic core, and the expropriation of land, resources, and autonomy of the global periphery (Melamed, 2015). The public promotion of Black enterprise as an emancipatory political vessel can largely be traced to the ongoing efforts of Black elites since Reconstruction to build a Black capitalist class, which would purportedly enhance economic opportunities for the entire race (Marable, 1983). However, strategies to develop a Black iteration of capitalism have only accentuated the economic disparity within Black America, yielding benefits for a small sect of Black elites but failing to improve the conditions of the masses. The Black elite’s often-conservative political functioning is further demonstrated by the trend for increased affluence to predict a greater likelihood to oppose redistributive economic policies (Dawson, 1995). These findings do not necessarily imply that wealthy Black Americans deliberately victimize the Black poor for their own benefit, as the pervasiveness of free-market propaganda has culminated in palpable faith that private enterprise and Black progress are mutually inclusive pursuits. However, Black elites’ espousal of political positions that serve their own class interests signifies a historical proclivity to prioritize individual economic gain above the race’s collective well-being.
The way affluent Black Americans traverse through a White-dominated society is invariably shaped by their unique possession of both elevated class status and a denigrated racial identity. As such, this paper leverages empirical and theoretical data to explicate the unique psychosocial factors — namely, allegiance to racial uplift, the lure of integration into a lucrative professional apparatus, and the mediating influence of racial capitalist propaganda — that contribute to Black elites’ political stances and their corresponding macro-level effects. I utilize Michael Dawson’s “Black utility heuristic” as a theoretical basis for this paper, which states that affluent Black Americans utilize collective racial interests as a proxy for individual gain when they believe their fate is tied to the entire race, but diminish their race allegiance when the sense of linked fate is not present (Dawson, 1995). I extend Dawson’s framework to account for Black elites’ psychological tension between choosing sacrifice, self-interest, or a perceived combination of the two, to ultimately argue that the Black Elite has historically embraced political ideologies that oppose Black America’s collective economic progress, albeit often unknowingly.

Author

• Kenzi Kareem Bishara, Graduate Center - CUNY