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• American Dream

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Enlightened Racism: The Cosby Show, Audiences, and the Myth of the American Dream

by Sut Jhally, Justin Lewis. 152 pgs.

Contributors:

   Sut Jhally, Justin Lewis

Publisher:

   Westview Press

Place of Publication:

  Boulder, CO  

Publication Year:

  1992

Subjects:

Fiction, African Americans On Television, Cosby Show (Television Program), Television Broadcasting--United States--Influence, Television Viewers--United States, Public Opinion--United States, United States--Race Relations--Public Opinion

	Contents
	List of Tables	xiii
	Preface	xv
	Acknowledgments	xvii
1	Introducing The Cosby Show	1
	Cosby: The Case For ,	3
	Cosby: The Case Against ,	6
	Asking the Audience ,	8
	Synopsis of The Cosby Show Episode Shown
	to Respondents ,	12
2	Television and Reality: How Real Is The Cosby Show?	15
	Talking About Reality ,	17
	The Absence and Presence of Class ,	23
	Cosby Contradictions ,	27
	The World According to Cosby ,	30
3	The Success of Cosby	35
	White Viewers and Popularity: The Same and Different ,	36
	"They're Things That Happen Day by Day,"	38
	"It Has That Kind of Airbrushed Quality About It,"	41
	"It's Always Family Matters,"	43
	"The Cosby Show's Black, and That Fits,"	46
	Black Viewers and Popularity: "Thank You, Dr. Cosby,
	for Giving Us Back Ourselves,"	48
	"When I Look at Them, I Look at Us,"	50
	"What Kind of Question Is That for Black Folk?"	53
	Looking on the Bright Side ,	56
4	Black Experience: Images, Illusions, and Social Class	57
	Black Images: The Case of the Disappearing Black Working Class ,	58
	Black Reality: The Permanent Underclass and
	Increasing Poverty ,	61
	The Race-Class Nexus ,	64
	Class and Social Mobility ,	68
5	Class and the Myth of the American Dream	71
	Misrepresentations and Misconceptions ,	71
	Television and the "American Dream,"	72
	Class Consciousness: The View from Above ,	75
	Class Consciousness: The View from Below ,	78
	The Displacement of Class onto Race ,	81
	Stereotyping: The Limits of Conventional Thinking ,	83
	The Fictional Creation of a Racially Just Society ,	86
6	White Responses: The Emergence of "Enlightened" Racism	93
	The Insidious Return of Racism ,	93
	Definitions of Black: Color Versus Culture ,	95
	The Black and White Cosby Show ,	98
	Now You See It, Now You Don't ,	101
	Biology Versus Culture ,	108
	The Consequences of Classlessness ,	109
7	Black Responses: The Hollow Images of Success	113
	The Bad News ,	113
	Race and Class in Black Situation Comedies ,	117
	Positive Images and the Search for Prosperity ,	121
	The Battle for Respect ,	124
	Clinging to the American Dream ,	127
8	Conclusion: Unpopular Messages in an Age of Popularity	131
	Affirming Inaction in White Viewers ,	135
	Rethinking Stereotypes ,	138
	Moving Beyond the American Dream ,	139
	References	145
	About the Book and Authors	147
	Index	149

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