White Racism: A Psychohistory

by Joel Kovel

In an unusual, novel approach to critical race theory, Joel Kovel manages to tackle a subject that stumped so many theorists in the 1960s and 1970 unconscious bias. White A Psychohistory presents a psychohistorical matrix of racism in an analysis of unconscious bias.
Kovel’s psychoanalytic approach to race is haunting in its approach to Western culture. With psychoanalytic calculation, White Racism probes the deep psychological and historical embedding of racism in Western civilization and provides a pessimistic view of future reform.

Genres: Psychology, Race, Sociology, Politics

301 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Joel Kovel is Distinguished Professor of Social Studies at Bard College. He has written ten books, including the first edition of The Enemy of Nature which appeared in 2002, and Overcoming Zionism (2007). He has edited the journal of radical ecology, Capitalism Nature Socialism, since 2003 and has been active in Green politics, running for the US Senate in 1998, and seeking the party's presidential nomination in 2000.

Reviews

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most unique books I've read, and the only "psychohistory" I have read, to my knowledge. This is a book that any American interested in his or her culture and nation should read. It convincingly discusses the history of America, and the peculiar system of violence, free enterprise and slavery that built early American capitalism. It combines this discussion of economic life with a discussion of the real facts of human development and psychology, shedding light on racism, injustice and the human condition. This book was a runner-up for the National Book Award in one of the early years of the 1970s.

[Isaiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had been anticipating this book for quite some time, and I must admit the first chapters are very strong and take a Freudian psychoanalytic approach to understanding white racism, metaracism, aversive, and or dominative racism — whichever term Kovel uses.

However, calling it Freudian would not suffice, as Kovel conjures up his own term, which is psychohistory.

“Psychohistory, then, may be defined as the study of the historical function of the changing meanings of things, a theory of cultural change”

The later chapters begin to falter and diminish in my opinion of quality, as they lean heavily into Freudian psychoanalysis. There is also a bit of intertwining with the literary analysis of popular texts, but I think it strays a bit too far; The final chapter lacks climax and I feel does not come full circle in its approach.

[Roberta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Western Civ 101 - how Freud's stages explain Western culture.

[Sami Eerola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incredible boring Marxist psychoanalyses of the origins and almost incurability of racism against black people. I personalty hate Marxism psychoanalyse. It is difficult to understand and therefore sounds like pseudoscience.

But there is some interesting ideas in here. Like the two types of racism: overt and avert. Overt is the famous white supremacist. But the avert is what today we would call casually racist or racist white liberal. Kovel analyses the later, concluding that deep almost every white person is racist against black people because in the subconsciousness blackness is associated with everything bad like the night and excrement. Therefore Kovel is deeply pessimistic about white people overcoming racism.

I have to disagree with Kovel's pessimism. I can confess that i had aversion of black people when i was a child. I genuinely thought that black peoples skin was somehow dirty. Still i was capable of befriending as a child a black Muslim boy. So the aversion can be overcome very quickly if the environment is anti-racist. Still i confess that i have racist thoughts about black people and immigrants that i personally encounter in my life and don't know personally and that look poor. Still i acknowledge this feelings as wrong and force myself to be nice to them. A thing that Kovel describes as being aversive racism. Still when i start to know personally a black person, these racist feelings disappear. I can attest that i have several black friends! So this phenomenon of aversion is similar to the feelings of aversion that i have for disable and obese people. I know, i am a prejudiced piece of shit. Still i know that treating people badly because they look different from me is wrong and i overcome them and i truly feel disgusted when i see racism and i intervene in this situations.

So for me the answer to this aversion is the environment. If the society is truly committed to diversity and anti-racism, this feelings of aversion will disappear. Using myself as example, i grew up in Brazil that has majority black population. Now i live in Finland that is majority white. Compared to many Finns, i am the least racist person that there is. so aversion have different stages

[Marty · Rating 3 out of 5]

i had to read this for a class. it's actually pretty good.

[Charles L · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books ever written hands down. Should be required reading for all students but will never be which points to its cogent brilliance.

[Monster Longe]

I'm going to have to read this book again when I can devote my undivided attention to it in order to fully grasp the concepts. Until then, I won't render a rating.

[Alvaro · Rating 2 out of 5]

the book was interesting, but the evidence for some of the cojectures was less tidy than I would have liked.