Black Culture, Inc.: How Ethnic Community Support Pays for Corporate America
(Stanford University Press 2022)
*Winner of the 2023 American Sociological Association Oliver Cromwell Cox Book Award (The Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities)
*Winner of a Gold Medal Axiom Business Book Award
*Winner of a Bronze Medal Independent Publisher Book Award
A surprising and fascinating look at how Black culture has been leveraged by corporate America, this book addresses some of today's most pressing public debates around allyship and diversity. Open the brochure for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and you'll see logos for corporations like American Express. Visit the website for the Apollo Theater and you'll notice acknowledgments to corporations like Coca Cola and Citibank. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, owe their very existence to large corporate donations from companies like General Motors. And while we can easily make sense of the need for such funding to keep cultural spaces afloat, less obvious are the reasons that corporations give to them. In Black Culture, Inc. Patricia A. Banks interrogates the notion that such giving is completely altruistic, and argues for a deeper understanding of the hidden transactions being conducted that render corporate America dependent on Black culture. Drawing on a range of sources, such as public relations and advertising texts on corporate cultural patronage and observations at sponsored cultural events, Banks argues that black cultural patronage profits firms by signaling that they value diversity, equity, and inclusion. By functioning in this manner, support of black cultural initiatives affords these companies something called "diversity capital," an increasingly valuable commodity in today's business landscape. While this does not necessarily detract from the social good that cultural patronage does, it reveals its secret cost: ethnic community support may serve to obscure an otherwise poor track record with social justice. Banks deftly weaves innovative theory with detailed observations and a discerning critical gaze at the various agendas infiltrating memorials, museums, and music festivals meant to celebrate Black culture. At a time when accusations of discriminatory practices are met with immediate legal and social condemnation, the insights offered here are urgent and necessary.
Excerpt: Click here
Press Mentions and Interviews:
Yahoo! News, Quoted in Article:
Read Here: “Black Lives Matter support plummets from 2020 peak: Report”
New England Public Media:
Listen Here: “Mount Holyoke professor explores corporate support for Black culture — the benefits and the costs”
New Books Network Podcast:
Listen Here: “Black Culture, Inc.: How Ethnic Community Support Pays for Corporate America”
The Last Negroes at Harvard:
Listen Here: “Professor Patricia Banks talks about her book: Black Culture, Inc.: How Ethnic Community Support Pays for Corporate America”
Accounts, Interview:
Read Here: “Bookshelf: Patricia A. Banks on Black Culture, Inc.”
Lively-HOOD, Quoted in Article
Read Here: “A Racial Reckoning in the Big Banks”
Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library, Interview:
Watch Below:
The Special Report, panelist:
Watch Below:
For other publications that engage the “diversity capital" concept developed in Black Culture, Inc., see:
On the Black Lives Matter movement and Corporate Philanthropy:
Banks, Patricia A. 2022. “Corporate Philanthropy as Diversity Capital.” HistPhil Blog.
On Big Tobacco’s Support of Black Nonprofits:
Banks, Patricia A. 2022. “Big Tobacco and Black Culture. The Promise and Perils of Caring Capitalism.” Stanford University Press Blog.