![]() ![]() If the effects of slavery prevent economic success, why are West Indian black immigrants (whose ancestors were also enslaved) economically successful? And if family structure correlates with economic success, why are Italian-Americans not more successful? Sowell, who uses inter group comparisons whenever possible throughout the book to test out theories, challenges these conclusions with two questions. It is widely thought, for example, that the position of the American black community results from slavery, and that weak family structure is a particularly important inheritance from slavery because strong family structure correlates with economic advancement. His conclusions, which defy the conventional wisdom, are fascinating. What Sowell does in this extremely useful book is to apply logic and economic analysis to group history. He scorns “the view in some quarters that the economic advancement of minorities is the result of tolerance, which is the result of ideas promoted in missionary fashion.” Instead, he argues in Race and Economics that the failure or success of racial and ethnic minorities in America is to be explained by solid economic and historical analysis. Thomas Sowell has a more pragmatic notion. Racial and ethnic relations in the United States have long been seen as a great morality play in which injustice is caused by, and will be ended by attacking prejudice. ![]()
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