Wilson-Willie debate
The Wilson-Willie debate centers around a significant discussion in race relations regarding the root causes of racial inequality in America. Scholars William J. Wilson and Charles V. Willie present contrasting views; Wilson argues that social class is increasingly more important than race in determining economic and political access for African Americans, a perspective he elaborated on in his 1978 book, *The Declining Significance of Race*. He contends that while historical discrimination has impacted African Americans' opportunities, the reduction of official discrimination has allowed for greater social mobility, especially among the educated. In contrast, Willie emphasizes the ongoing relevance of race, asserting that systemic discrimination continues to disadvantage African Americans in various life domains, including income, education, and housing. He posits that increased contact with whites, due to desegregation and affirmative action, has heightened the significance of racial identity. This debate extends beyond individual perspectives; it raises broader questions about whether the solutions to racial inequality should focus on class-based strategies or tackle systemic discrimination directly. The discourse between Wilson and Willie is reminiscent of earlier intellectual debates on race, highlighting the complexities of addressing racial issues in contemporary society.
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Wilson-Willie debate
The debate between scholars William J. Wilson and Charles V. Willie concerns a central issue in race relations: Is racial inequality primarily a product of historical forces or is it maintained by continuing racism and discrimination?
In the summer of 1977, Wilson, then a professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, reported to a meeting of the Sociological Research Association that social class had become more important than race in determining the access of African Americans to economic resources and political power. The following year, this claim became the basis of Wilson’s book, The Declining Significance of Race (1978). Wilson maintained that racial discrimination had, historically, limited the life chances of African Americans. Under slavery and the Jim Crow system, African Americans had been legally excluded from many areas of American life. The discrimination continued as the United States became increasingly industrialized. By the 1970s, though, official discrimination had been outlawed by civil rights legislation, and unofficial discrimination had decreased greatly. However, according to Wilson, African Americans continued to experience much greater rates of poverty than whites because historical discrimination had left African Americans with fewer job skills and lower levels of education than whites.
An excerpt from Wilson’s book was published in the July/August, 1978, issue of the periodical Society. The periodical also published a response from Harvard sociologist Charles Vert Willie, who maintained that the significance of race in American society was not declining but “inclining.” Willie argued, on the basis of statistics, that African Americans suffered systematic disadvantages in income and employment, in access to education, and in housing. These disadvantages, according to Willie, could be maintained only by continuing systemic discrimination. Further, Willie suggested that as school desegregation and affirmative action programs brought African Americans into closer contact with whites, race became more—rather than less—important in determining black identities. Middle-class African Americans, who were under pressure to constantly prove themselves, had become obsessed with race, in Willie’s view.
Responding to Willie’s criticism, Wilson cited evidence that African Americans were achieving higher levels of education than ever before. He argued that the black-white gap in income was steadily decreasing among the well-educated and well-trained. He granted that some of those in the black middle class might feel psychological pressure but suggested that this was an entirely different matter from having their life chances limited by racial discrimination.
The Wilson-Willie debate continued in publications throughout the 1980s. It is a central issue in race relations, one that has been compared to the famous debate between Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois in the early twentieth century regarding how to overcome the heritage of slavery. To the extent that social class is the basis of racial inequality, the problem requires class-based solutions such as job training for all poor, black or white. To the extent that discrimination is the basis, tough laws protecting minorities and affirmative action programs may be the best types of solutions.
Bibliography
Caputo, Richard K., and Luisa S. Deprez. "Revisiting William J. Wilson's The Declining Significance of Race." Jour. of Sociology & Social Welfare 39.1 (2012): 7–15. Print.
Thomas, Melvin. "Anything but Race: The Social Science Retreat from Racism." African American Research Perspectives 6.1 (2000): 79–96. Print.
Willie, Charles Vert. The Caste and Class Controversy on Race and Poverty: Round Two of the Willie/Wilson Debate. 2nd ed. Dix Hills: General Hall, 1989. Print.
Wilson, William Julius. The Declining Significance of Race: Blacks and Changing American Institutions. 3rd ed. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2012.
Wilson, William Julius. "The Declining Significance of Race: Revisited & Revised." Daedalus 140.2 (2011): 55–69. Harvard University. Web. 15 May. 2015.