John Dewey and cultural racism

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”.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Policy Studies

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Jones, John

Contributors dc:contributor

• Burbules, Nicholas C.

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

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2012 John Jones

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

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

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/42217