Considering recent tragedies and protests involving black youths, the police and the legal system—along with the centuries of devastation wrought by racial bias—a work exploring the impact of culture is both timely and welcome. Though we are far from achieving a post-racial society, what Ralph Ellison called conscious culture can point a way.
Culture—“that which separates the behavior of Homo sapiens from
other species”—is so fundamental, Patterson proclaims, that “the
question, then, is not whether culture matters but how.” He begins the
688-page anthology with an account of the concept, which he explains as
two processes that dance. The first is shared “ideas, narratives,
metaphors, and beliefs, formal and informal rules or norms, and specific
as well as ultimate values.” The second is how these apply in social
interactions with others, where individuality and creativity can be
exercised “within limits set by practical rules of engagement that take
account of status, power, and context.”
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