Rage of a Privileged Class, The

Since the founding of the United States, there has been a social class of African Americans who have been regarded as middle to upper class. Entrepreneurs such as Paul Cuffe, a businessman in the late 1700s and early 1800s, would thrive in spite of racial barriers. During the antebellum period before the Civil War, during Reconstruction, and during Jim Crow segregation in America, the African American middle class provided much of the leadership initiative toward the eventual freedom for all members of their community. However, following the end of the civil rights movement, the tension between the individual multicultural self, the somewhat open American society, and corporate institutions would cause some in the African American community to experience a sense of “rage” regarding the fact that material and professional success could not protect them from racism.

Ellis Cose utilizes a framework for critiquing wealth, social mobility, and psychological dispositions of African Americans in his best-selling book The Rage of a Privileged Class. Although this framework is limited and has an inadequate conception of racism, it is useful as a device to explore the discontent of upwardly mobile African Americans. The central argument of the book is that a group that had achieved an admirable level of success, as opposed to previous generations of [Page 1803]African Americans, was silently angry about its perceived status in American society.

In The Rage of a Privileged Class, Cose followed in this vein, exposing and exploring the frustration that upwardly mobile blacks have with American society. He utilized interviews among the affluent to show that even well-to-do and successful African Americans experienced slights, insults, and biases that left them with frustration and a pessimistic outlook that was the result of historical development, a particular group culture, and an apprehensive view toward contemporary society.

In exploring these themes in the book, it is important to take a brief look at the historical development, organizational culture, contemporary scene, and future implications for the African American middle and upper classes and multiculturalism in America.