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Palgrave Macmillan

The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power

Media, Race, Economics

  • Book
  • © 2023
  • Latest edition

Overview

Authors:
  1. Jared A. Ball

    1. Morgan State University, Baltimore, USA

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  • Describes the origins of the myth of black buying power, the rhetoric around this myth, and the contextualization
  • Looks at historical figures from across the political spectrum who have propagated the myth of black buying power
  • Provides an original contribution to the literature on the racial wealth gap

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xix
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  2. Introduction

    • Jared A. Ball
    Pages 1-13

  3. Propaganda Versus Economics: Constructing A Myth

    • Jared A. Ball
    Pages 15-28

  4. Buying Power Not Protest: The Myth Prevents Unrest

    • Jared A. Ball
    Pages 29-57

  5. The Myth’s “Big Three” Modern Purveyors: Reviewing Selig, Nielsen, Mckinsey

    • Jared A. Ball
    Pages 59-70

  6. The Myth at Play: A Most Suitable Environment

    • Jared A. Ball
    Pages 71-98

  7. Cryptoganda: The Newest Bottle for Very Old Brandy

    • Jared A. Ball
    Pages 99-112

  8. Freedom Was the Call but “Instead, They Got a Bank”

    • Jared A. Ball
    Pages 113-122

  9. Conclusion

    • Jared A. Ball
    Pages 123-130

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 131-133
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Keywords

About this book

The second edition of this Palgrave Pivot offers a history of and proof against claims of "buying power" and the impact this myth has had on understanding media, race, class and economics in the United States. For generations Black people have been told they have what is now said to be more than one trillion dollars of "buying power," and this book argues that commentators have misused this claim largely to blame Black communities for their own poverty based on squandered economic opportunity. This book exposes the claim as both a marketing strategy and myth, while also showing how that myth functions simultaneously as a case study for propaganda and commercial media coverage of economics. In sum, while “buying power” is indeed an economic and marketing phrase applied to any number of racial, ethnic, religious, gender, age or group of consumers, it has a specific application to Black America. A new foreword by Dr. Darrick Hamilton, Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy at the New School (in New York, USA), and a new chapter on cryptocurrencies are included in this new edition.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Morgan State University, Baltimore, USA

    Jared A. Ball

About the author

Dr. Jared A. Ball Professor of Africana and Communication Studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. and host of the “iMiXWHATiLiKE!” podcast. His decades of journalism, media, writing, and political work can be found at imixwhatilike.org. Ball has also been named as one of 2022’s Marguerite Casey Foundation’s Freedom Scholars.

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