Post-civil-rights African American mobilization declined as shared enemy attribution diluted to self-blame.
Evidence
Gupta’s (1998) analysis of the predicament of the African American community supports the proposed role of adversarial attributions. He argued that despite widespread grievances among African Americans, the notion of a “common enemy” has been diluted in the post-civil rights era, which in turn undermined collective rebellion. He noted that even the Million Men March of 1995 contributed to this dilution because its main message was not the struggle against the dominant White group as the enemy. Instead, it focused on African Americans’ personal responsibilities and thus fostered internal attributions. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4430
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the reader’s tracing of essentialist vs. adversarial identity moves — internalized responsibility as a de-politicizing essentialism. — connects to: Loss of a common enemy deflated African American political rebellion; The personal-responsibility mandate redirected blame from discrimination onto Black people themselves. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 1138; Ideological rearticulation outperformed repression in defusing the civil rights movement. — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 240 (+1 more)
- QUESTION: Is the Million Man March frame available as an empirical case where strategic essentialism (Afrocentric solidarity) was attempted without literal belief? Relevant to collective availability.
Broader Connections
- Loss of a common enemy deflated African American political rebellion
#corroborates(0.92) - The personal-responsibility mandate redirected blame from discrimination onto Black people themselves.
#corroborates(0.85) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 1138 - Color-blind rhetoric shifted blame for disparities onto Black culture
#corroborates(0.80) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1290 - Ideological rearticulation outperformed repression in defusing the civil rights movement.
#expands(0.78) — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 240