I wasn't very clear, what I was wondering was when the term bourgeois came into use and, apparently, in such a way that it is completely taken for granted since no explanation for what it is or why it might be controversial is provided.
As I mentioned the other day re: dipping my toe into the steam of argument contained in the book, The Myth of The French Bourgeoisie, the author's contention is that then, as now, the term bourgeoisie wasn't something anyone really wanted to pin on themselves. It is much like the word YUP today. No one wants to be called one and if they do assign themselves the label, it's tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic, or ironic self-observation.
Bourgeois was a floating signifier, a way to allow everyone to position themselves as just right because not bourgeoisie. Same as YUP.
But this distancing from that identity, bourgeois (or YUP), is not the case here. They happily embrace it as if there's no controversy. it doesn't seemed to be used as irony, either. But maybe I'm wrong. Take the Jack and Jill Politics blog which says that its "a black bourgeois perspective on politics".
So, yeah, as a general phenom, it's very old -- and isn't confined to any identity group. Poor and working whites in the u.s. use the term white trash to distinguish themselves as good and proper "hicks".
I guess what I'm interested in is specific analysis of the way 'ghetto' is operating here. It is not unlike the black women's club movement, which tried to curtail expressions of sexuality and flamboyant dress among black men and women. Their style was "embarrassing" and bringing them down in the eyes of whites: hence mobilization of a policing discourse.
I see the same thing today, but today it's not considered terribly controversial. We can look back and then and see how black women's sexuality was constructed among blacks aspiring to respectability, how it worked with the virgin/whore dichotomy and bolstered it. We can all nod and say, "Oh y eah, that was bad."
and this is of a piece with my criticisms of Ariel Levy: so many people nodded and said, "oh yes she is so right. that trashiness. that sluttiness. that female chauvinist pig is so bad." but what I saw operating there was the same dynamic as the bourgeois black consciousness pushing down "ghetto" as trashy.
This book I'm reading just so happens to touch on the same dynamic, though she's largely confining herself to hetero/sexism among black feminists, as well as hetero/sexism and punitive norms of propriety among black nationalists. It's _Dark continent of Our Bodies_ by E. Frances White.
I told R last night that it seems to be the inevitable result of people both moving "up" but also a way of explaining to themselves why they aren't: the ghetto blacks are dragging us down. if we could just get them to knock it off, things would be alright.
Dwayne wrote:
> Shag wrote:
> Is anyone criticizing this in any depth? Probably not since the taboo
> against "airing dirty laundry". but still... aiyiyiyi.
>
> ..............
>
>
>
> My daily, behind closed doors experiences with my co-complexionists
> tells me that the notion of a divide between "bougie" and "ghetto"
> never died. It didn't even catch a cold. So, I don't think there's
> been an upsurge. Perhaps people are just more willing to put it out
> there for mixed company (Blogging does often inspire a false sense of
> intimacy).
>
>
> As you know, the idea of being 'presentable' is very durable. My
> grandmother used to tell me: "you don't want to give white folks - who
> are already crazy enough - even more of an excuse to harass you." The
> message was clear: racism IS a serious obstacle and it IS
> unequivocally white folks' fault for being so damned difficult to deal
> with but...we must show them that we can be "civilized". If we do
> this, maybe they'll settle down and let us freely join in the American
> project. "Civilized" meant many things; for example, not being 'too
> loud' in restaurants or movie theaters (que someone, probably a list
> lurking 20-something wanker, to emerge and tell a story about loud
> black folks in movie theaters).
>
> I'm sure many Roman slaves cherished similar illusions of emancipation
> via good behavior.
>
>
> Of course, this hyper self-consciousness isn't limited to African
> Americans. I've known poor whites who reported feeling out-of-place
> in a Whole Foods or an 'upscale' mall. They've also experienced a
> pressure to 'act right' (we could separately explore the complex
> class/race issue - I've been in odd circumstances where retail outlets
> dissed and security shadowed obviously poor whites while catering to
> obviously middle income me - wheels within wheels). My Korean wife
> sometimes criticizes other Koreans for being too rustic in public.
>
> So the feeling - and the ideas supporting it - are not unique.
>
> Still, I believe African Americans to be especially sensitive to this
> because the words and actions of any one AA are generally seen as a
> reflection of the whole group. Maybe we can call this the 5 O'Clock
> News Effect. You know the drill: sensation driven local television
> news reports on a rape/murder/arson/"home invasion" - up pops a grainy
> picture of a standard issue surly black guy. Black viewers cringe,
> fearing that white viewers will nod their heads saying 'but of
> course'.
>
> No doubt, this is internalized racism but it's also a bit of common
> sense wisdom developed within the supremacist envelope. Over the
> years, I've been backhandedly complimented by assorted white people on
> how 'articulate' and 'professional' I seem. Often, the unspoken
> second half of this praise is that I have these laudable qualities
> UNLIKE most blacks. A friend's mother once remarked: "he's not like
> the others". I appreciated her rough, inadvertent honesty even as I
> longed to see her garroted by merciless robots.
>
>
> If a white guy robs a bank, other white guys feel zero concern about
> how that event will effect their social profile. Supremacy provides
> that luxury.
>
>
> Who's criticizing the "bougie" vs. "ghetto" meme?
>
> Aside from the folks at Black Agenda Report and people such as Dyson
> and Adolph Reed I don't know. It has long legs and, as we've seen
> from the support Cosby received for his rants, is more popular than
> we'd like to think.
>
>
> ..
>
> On second thought, instead of calling it the 5 O'Clock News Effect I
> think that the Sokolowski Imperative sounds better inasmuch as Wojtek,
> that rheumatic, swag-bellied rascal, has often expressed both implicit
> and explicit sympathy for the conquest of "bougie" over "ghetto".
>
>
>
> .d.
>
>
> --
> "We're candies, not job applicants, give us a shot!"
>
>
> ......................
> http://monroelab.net/blog/
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>
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