Cultural Bases of Racism and Group Oppression:
An Examination of Traditional “Western” Concepts, Values and Institutional Structures Which Support Racism, Sexism and Elitism
by John L. Hodge, D. K. Struckmann & L. D. Trost (Two Riders Press, 1975).
This book reveals the mind-body dualism that has dominated “Western” thinking for over two millennia, and shows how it supports racism, sexism, elitism, and other forms of group oppression.
It is one of the few books (maybe the first in recent times) that explore these connections thoroughly and shows that theoretical beliefs and social structures are intertwined. It connects the philosophical views of major “Western” thinkers, including Plato, St. Augustine, Descartes and Freud, to oppression of non-whites and women by and within “Western” culture. The concluding sections point to ways to overcome this dualism, not by appealing to some “non-Western” model (which may have similar or worse problems), but by developing a new way of thinking and by building new institutions and institutional structures based on it.
This book, currently out-of-print but available used, was used as a text in several colleges and universities during the 1970’s and ‘80’s. One-third of that book was reprinted in Race and Culture in America, ed. Carl Jackson & E. Tolbert (Bellwether Press, 1st ed., 1986; 2nd ed., 1987; 3rd ed., 1989; out-of-print but available used). The book has appeared on some college and university reading lists and has been referenced by many authors.
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