The New York Times has recently been running a series of articles marking the 400th anniversary of the arrival of African slaves in the New World that they are calling the 1619 Project. The approach that they took on these essays is original and commendable. Each of them illustrates a different aspect about how slavery and then racial discrimination shaped various aspects (e.g., cultural, social, legal) of present day America. I have enjoyed reading these essays, which gave me a different lens to view some modern issues. At the same time, the essays tap into a larger academic sociological debate about the relationship between “society” and the individual. That is, to what extent can we explain social phenomenon with reference to social institutions and structures? The authors of the 1619 Project essays mostly take a stand on this debate, attributing many of our present social woes and challenges to “the system.” Thus, a few of the essays use the metaphor of “DNA,” as in, the United States has a particular racist DNA at its core. My own scholarly proclivity is to treat such arguments and analogies with a great deal of skepticism. Societies are unlike living organisms and while they do […]
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