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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page research paper that examines the position taken by Harvard sociologist Orlando Patterson in his book The Ordeal of Integration regarding the paradoxes involved in understanding integration. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
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5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_00orpat.rtf
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order to take his discussion beyond the polarities that usually govern race discussions in the national arena. As Patterson sees it, the usual debate misses the point entirely since bunkered
camps tend to talk past each other, rather then really communicate (Bannister, 1998). Liberal intellectuals?black and white alike?invoke racism and poverty to explain why there is so much irresponsible sexual
behavior and violent crime within the black underclass. Those who adhere to this position generally view integration as a failure. For example, Bell (1992) states that integration is "mostly a
symbol that wont cost them (i.e., whites) much and will keep us blacks pacified. It is an updated version of the glass trinkets and combs they used in Africa...to trick
some tribes into selling off their brothers and sisters" (p. 18). On the other side, conservative activists deconstruct affirmative action in the name of a "false and cynical" view
of merit (Bannister, 1998, p. 21). Because of these entrenched positions, Patterson argues that the country has failed to come to terms with racism as it really exists and
to assimilate the implications of new data. The basic conclusion that can be drawn from this data, according to Patterson, is that American racial relations appear to be getting worse,
or at least are perceived as getting worse, because they are getting better. As this paradox implies, Patterson takes a long view that includes the history of the last century
when considering race. His perspective looks at the incredible injustice of the past and judges the present against this standard. Much of the criticism of integration has been based, traditionally,
on the claim that although the US has pursued integration for forty years, there has been little progress for African Americans. It is interesting to note, as Patterson does,
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