The Sociology of W. E. B. Du Bois: Racialized Modernity and the Global Color Line

by José Itzigsohn, Karida L. Brown

“[A] guidepost  . . . to [the] penetrating analyses of this great scholar pertaining to racism . . . [F]or anyone interested in a pivotal issue of our time.” —Aldon Morris, author of The Scholar W.E.B. Du Bois and the Birth of Modern Sociology  The Sociology of W. E. B. Du Bois provides a comprehensive introduction to the founding father of American sociological thought. Du Bois is now recognized as a pioneer of American scientific sociology and as someone who made foundational contributions to the sociology of race and to urban and community sociology. José Itzigsohn and Karida L. Brown provide a groundbreaking account of Du Bois’s theoretical contribution to sociology, or what they call the analysis of “racialized modernity.”   The full canon of Du Bois’s sociological works spans a lifetime of over ninety years in which his ideas evolved over much of the twentieth century. This broader and more systematic account of Du Bois’s contribution explores how his theories changed, evolved, and even contradicted earlier ideas. Careful parsing of seminal works provides a much needed overview for scholars looking to gain a better grasp of the ideas of Du Bois, in particular his understanding of racialized subjectivity, racialized social systems, and his scientific sociology. Further, the authors show that a Du Boisian sociology provides an analytical framework for the multilevel examination of individual-level processes—such as the formation of the self—and macro processes—such as group formation and mobilization—key concepts for a basic understanding of sociology.   “A book for the times..” —American Journal of Sociology   “Persuasive and well sourced. . . . A pathbreaking classic!” —Marcus Anthony Hunter, author of Black How the Philadelphia Negro Changed Urban America   “Surely the most comprehensive and ambitious summation of Du Bois’s epistemology.” —Social Forces

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Sociology

291 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 24, 2020

Reviews

[Aamina · Rating 4 out of 5]

”The defining characteristics of modernity for Du Bois were colonialism and the creation of race, the invention of whiteness, and the global denial of humanity and multiple forms of exclusion, oppression, exploitation, and dispossession constructed along racial lines.”

Du Bois is one hard worker. Literally. Did that guy ever rest. I don’t think so. He went to one of the top universities at the time in Berlin, and was the first AA to obtain a PHD from Harvard. He wrote multiple books, including the Philadelphia Negro and also fiction. He co-founded the NAACP, and worked as a researcher. He also started his own periodicals, the last and most successful one being ‘The Crisis.’ He published a children’s book, a play and convened many pan-african congresses.
He even had plans to produce an encyclopaedia to detail Black history from the perspective of Black people, at age NINETY THREE!! (He unfortunately passed away before seeing this come into fruition).

But wow. Du Bois has inspired me. He did a lot for his community, and dedicated his life to undoing what he called the ‘colour line’/‘veil’. I hope to work to the same extent for my own community - particularly Niqabi women, who are also, like Du Bois, seen as a ‘problem.’ It’s time to change this. Du Bois may have just roused my passions to begin this endeavour.

[Asha Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great intro read for my soc theory class. Many of the inklings I’ve had about how I want to practice my own scholarship are rooted in what we would trace back to Du Bois (and other important intellectuals like Ida B. Wells, Anna Julia Cooper, etc), but I didn’t always know this and this book gave me a better vocabulary for it. This was a validating text as a Black grad student who is very interested in & committed to activism and art in my scholarship. I really appreciated it. I do have questions about public sociology and public history, though, and the authors don’t talk about public history (or even Carter G. Woodson and the development of Black History in the same time period), but I see it like the square = rectangle debate. In general, I think we need to have many more dialogues about how public history fits into our work as academics, especially as interdisciplinary scholars. & I think Du Bois should be situated among architects of public history along with Wells. But that’s a different conversation…