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Subjectivity Struggles: W. E. B. Du Bois's Contribution to Radical Interactionism

Radical Interactionism and Critiques of Contemporary Culture

ISBN: 978-1-83982-029-8, eISBN: 978-1-83982-028-1

Publication date: 30 April 2021

Abstract

The essay explores the profound nature and consequences of subjectivity struggles in everyday life. W. E. B. Du Bois's concept of double consciousness and its constituent concepts of the veil, twoness, and second sight illuminate the process of racialized self-formation. Racialized self-formation contributes to understanding the cultural reproduction of domination and subjugation, the two primary concerns of radical interactionists. Double consciousness, long ignored by symbolic interactionists, cannot be neglected by radical interactionists if they are to articulate a comprehensive account of self-formation in a white-supremacist culture. Reflections on racialization, meritocracy, and subjectivity struggles in contemporary everyday life conclude the essay.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgment

An ocean of gratitude is due Jill Taft-Kaufman who reviewed this essay and offered substantive improvements.

Citation

Musolf, G.R. (2021), "Subjectivity Struggles: W. E. B. Du Bois's Contribution to Radical Interactionism", Denzin, N.K., Salvo, J. and Chen, S.-L.S. (Ed.) Radical Interactionism and Critiques of Contemporary Culture (Studies in Symbolic Interaction, Vol. 52), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 19-33. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0163-239620210000052002

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

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