Plantation Society and Race Relations: The Origins of Inequality

For more than three hundred years, the American South was essentially a plantation society, in which the plantation system penetrated all aspects of social, cultural, economic, and political life. During this period, plantation slavery evolved into the key institutional component of Southern society and played an integral role in its development. This interdisciplinary collection of essays provides a sociological framework for the interpretation of historical data on plantation slavery by addressing different questions concerning four broad areas of research—theoretical perspectives; social institutions; race, gender, and social inequality; and social change and social transformations. The contributors depict slave plantations as organized social systems that contributed significantly to the racial stratification of the Southern plantation society, and in this way served as the origin of contemporary race relations and social inequality in America.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction Theoretical Perspectives The Slave Plantation Revisited: A Sociological Perspective by Thomas J. Durant, Jr. The Slave Plantation System from a Total Institution Perspective by J. David Knottnerus, David L. Monk, and Edward Jones Plantation-Style Social Control: Oppressive Social Structures in the Slave Plantation System by Donald L. Yates The Social Construction of Racial Meaning by Blacks and Whites in Plantation Society by Beverly M. John Social Institutions The Social Influence of Plantation Religion among Anglo-American Colonists and African Slaves by Rupe Simms Up from the Plantation: The Survival of Rural Black Farm Families of Northeastern Louisiana 1930-1970 by Francis Staten "I Looked for Home Elsewhere": Black Southern Plantation Families 1790-1940 by Lenus Jack, Jr. The Profitability of Slavery: A Review of the Classical Economic Position by Donald R. Andrews and Ralph D. Christy Law and Race in the Slave Plantation System by Joyce M. Plummer Race, Gender, and Social Inequality Plantation Slavery among Native Americans: The Creation of a Red, White, and Black America by Thomas J. Durant, Jr. and Nicole Moliere Gender Roles in Slave Plantations by Julia Burkart Status Structures and Ritualized Relations in the Slave Plantation System by J. David Knottnerus The Social Demography of Plantation Slavery by Ollie Gary Christian Social Change and Social Transformations The Plantation Lifeworld of the Old Natchez District: 1840-1880 by Ronald L.F. Davis The Social Transformation of Plantation Society by Clarence R. Talley Plantations without Slaves: The Legacy of Louisiana Plantation Culture by Katherine Bankole "Gone with the Wind" Versus the Holocaust Metaphor: Louisiana Plantation Narratives in Black and White by Jean Muteba Rahier and Michael Hawkins Conclusions Bibliography Index

About the Author :
THOMAS J. DURANT, JR. is Professor of Sociology and Director of African and African American Studies at Louisiana State University. His research and teaching interests include Southern culture, international development, and ethnic minorities. He has published numerous journal articles and book chapters. J. DAVID KNOTTNERUS is Professor of Sociology at Oklahoma State University. His interests include theory, social structure and inequality, social psychology, and group processes. He has published extensively in journals and is the coeditor of Recent Developments in the Theory of Social Structure (with Christopher Prendergast, 1994).

Review :
.,."would make a good addition to the methods class for advanced, undergraduate, history majors. Also, historians may profitably consult it for new approaches to microhistory or projects involving interviews."-The Historian ?...would make a good addition to the methods class for advanced, undergraduate, history majors. Also, historians may profitably consult it for new approaches to microhistory or projects involving interviews.?-The Historian ..."would make a good addition to the methods class for advanced, undergraduate, history majors. Also, historians may profitably consult it for new approaches to microhistory or projects involving interviews."-The Historian