The Concept of Self: A Study of Black Identity and Self-Esteem

African American Life

by Richard L. Allen

Institutional racism has had a major impact on the development of African American self-esteem and group identity. Through the years, African Americans have developed strong, tenacious concepts of self partially based on African cultural and philosophical retentions and as a reaction to historical injustices. The Concept of Self examines the historical basis for the widely misunderstood ideas of how African Americans think of themselves individually, and how they relate to being part of a group that has been subjected to challenges of their very humanity.

Richard Allen examines past scholarship on African American identity to explore a wide range of issues leading to the formation of an individual and collective sense of self. Allen traces the significance of social forces that have impinged on the lives of African Americans and points to the uniqueness of their position in American society. He then focuses on the results from the National Study of Black Americans -- a national survey of African Americans on a wide range of political, social, and psychological issues to develop a model of African self. Allen explores the idea of double-consciousness as put forth by W.E.B. DuBois against the more recent debates of Afrocentricity or an African-centered consciousness. He proposes a set of interrelated hypotheses regarding how African Americans might use an African worldview for the upliftment of Africans in the Diaspora.

The Concept of the Self will interest students and scholars of African American studies, sociology, and population studies.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2001

Reviews

[Jon Upshaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Powerful Look Into The Black Self-Conscious

This book provided me an entirely new and authentic view of how African Americans can approach their self-esteem and better connect with their African roots in a European society. This is brilliant piece of work that shows, from a cultural and statistical viewpoint, the affects of culture over time. As an African-American man, I feel that this literary work has provided me with a fresh perspective.