John Dewey and cultural racism

Jones, John

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Description

Title

John Dewey and cultural racism

Author(s)

Jones, John

Issue Date

2013-02-03T19:28:14Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Burbules, Nicholas C.

Department of Study

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Discipline

Educational Policy Studies

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.A.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Race
• Culture
• Dewey
• Racism
• Pedagogy
• P.S. 26
• Pragmatism
• racialization

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this thesis is the investigation of John Dewey’s ideology vis-à-vis race. It is my argument that Dewey, while he was an avowed anti-racist and was not a scientific racist in the vein of Herbert Spencer, Dewey’s pragmatist philosophy of human social development was implicitly racist in ways he did not realize. I support my claim by first giving an overview of the changing connotation of the term “race” within the history of European scientific thought and the field of Anthropology. Next, I compare Dewey’s vocal support f leftist politics during the Great Depression to his relative silence concerning the great racial questions of his time period. Last, I bring together the previous developments and use them in an analysis of some of the racial ideology of United States liberal political culture during the 20th century. In the conclusion, I discuss the racial structure and ideology of the contemporary United States and refer to sociological research involving other racially-stratified cultures in the Americas in order to give a better understanding of what I mean when I use the term “cultural racism”.

Graduation Semester

2012-12

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/42217

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2012 John Jones

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