Globalization and Survival in the Black Diaspora: The New Urban Challenge

Charles Green

Jul 1997 · State University of New York Press

About this eBook

This volume draws attention to the plight of urban blacks in the contemporary world and links their situation across five key global regions. It argues that while the world's population is predominantly urban, persons of African descent are disproportionately urbanized and impoverished, and it shows how significant changes in the global arena, among them new information technology, the increased hegemony of market structures, and the resulting socioeconomic instability, have altered the material circumstances of these and other poor and working-class urban dwellers. The book argues further that although the problems triggered by the late-twentieth-century challenge appear to impact blacks uniformly, the societal and cultural-specific dimensions of their plight should not be overlooked. Its findings and implications buttress the need for greater unity among urban blacks in the diaspora, as well as offer solutions that are sensitive to their societal and cultural differences.

About the author

Charles Green is Professor of Sociology at Hunter College. He is coauthor of The Struggle for Black Empowerment in New York City: Beyond the Politics of Pigmentation.