Dr. Loury typically goes to some length to tease apart the many underlying causes of complex social problems, but here seems to claim the high incarceration rate of the black male population can be simply explained by white hedonism and the implicit racism of Congress. This reductive approach generally is not characteristic of Dr. Loury's work. Have I misunderstood the argument?
Glenn made some strong points in his defense of Derrick Bell. Race almost certainly was part of the calculus on the War on Drugs. But what about gender? The people imprisoned by the War on Drugs are disproportionately Black, but even more so they are disproportionately male.
There was a confluence of factors starting in the 1960s in the U.S.: The rise of the welfare state; the rise of women in the workforce; the offshoring of manufacturing. All of these factors served to marginalize poor and working class men. What to do with them? Send them off to be killed in battle? No, that was no longer politically acceptable. How about we find reasons to lock them in cages? And that's what we've done.
Imagine the outcry if women of whatever color were imprisoned at similar rates.
Dr. Loury typically goes to some length to tease apart the many underlying causes of complex social problems, but here seems to claim the high incarceration rate of the black male population can be simply explained by white hedonism and the implicit racism of Congress. This reductive approach generally is not characteristic of Dr. Loury's work. Have I misunderstood the argument?
Glenn made some strong points in his defense of Derrick Bell. Race almost certainly was part of the calculus on the War on Drugs. But what about gender? The people imprisoned by the War on Drugs are disproportionately Black, but even more so they are disproportionately male.
There was a confluence of factors starting in the 1960s in the U.S.: The rise of the welfare state; the rise of women in the workforce; the offshoring of manufacturing. All of these factors served to marginalize poor and working class men. What to do with them? Send them off to be killed in battle? No, that was no longer politically acceptable. How about we find reasons to lock them in cages? And that's what we've done.
Imagine the outcry if women of whatever color were imprisoned at similar rates.