Discerning the posture of American race relations in the 1980s: Competitive versus paternalistic?

Abstract

This paper discerns the nature of U.S. Black‐White relations in the 1980s, and makes projections for the coming decade. Race relations are viewed objectively from the standpoint of social and economic progress between groups rather than from a subjective attitudinal perspective. Thus indicators of the educational, social, and economic progress of Blacks relative to Whites are presented. Theoretical constructs in race relations research are employed to further describe the current status of U.S. Black‐White relations. Using Van den Berghe's typology of competitive vs. paternalistic race relations, the author concludes that present race relations between U.S. Blacks and Whites mirror an advanced form of paternalism. This is based on the relationship of Blacks and Whites to the American economic and political structures and to the current declining progress of Blacks relative to Whites. It is predicted that U.S. race relations will assume a similar posture in the 1990s.