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"A Nation of Thieves": Consumption, Commerce, and the Black Public Sphere

"A Nation of Thieves": Consumption, Commerce, and the Black Public Sphere n so very many areas of public life, blacks are condemned and negatively stereotyped for engaging in activities that white people undertake without a second thought. Among the most significant of these is buying and selling goods and services. Despite the passage of state and federal antidiscrimination and public accommodations laws, blacks are still fighting for the right to shop and the right, if not the reason, to sell. Because blacks have not yet secured these rights, many of those who have the temerity to shop or to sell are treated like economic miscreants. Shopping and selling by blacks, or more broadly , are in essence considered deviant activities by many whites and by many blacks as well. It may be hard for some readers to accept the categorization of such mundane activities as deviance, but deviance is gauged, not by the intrinsic nature of an act, but by powerful peoples’ responses to it. Deviance is a social construct and a mechanism of social control. An activity may be labeled deviant even though it does not represent a threat to the social order. For a more elaborately documented version of this work see Regina Austin, “‘A Nation of http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Public Culture Duke University Press

"A Nation of Thieves": Consumption, Commerce, and the Black Public Sphere

Public Culture , Volume 7 (1) – Oct 1, 1994

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Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright 1994 by Duke University Press
ISSN
0899-2363
eISSN
1527-8018
DOI
10.1215/08992363-7-1-225
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

n so very many areas of public life, blacks are condemned and negatively stereotyped for engaging in activities that white people undertake without a second thought. Among the most significant of these is buying and selling goods and services. Despite the passage of state and federal antidiscrimination and public accommodations laws, blacks are still fighting for the right to shop and the right, if not the reason, to sell. Because blacks have not yet secured these rights, many of those who have the temerity to shop or to sell are treated like economic miscreants. Shopping and selling by blacks, or more broadly , are in essence considered deviant activities by many whites and by many blacks as well. It may be hard for some readers to accept the categorization of such mundane activities as deviance, but deviance is gauged, not by the intrinsic nature of an act, but by powerful peoples’ responses to it. Deviance is a social construct and a mechanism of social control. An activity may be labeled deviant even though it does not represent a threat to the social order. For a more elaborately documented version of this work see Regina Austin, “‘A Nation of

Journal

Public CultureDuke University Press

Published: Oct 1, 1994

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