Shelby Steele's On Being Black And Middle Class

In his essay, “On Being Black and Middle Class” (1988), writer and middle-class black American, Shelby Steele adopts a concerned tone in order to argue that because of the social conflicts that arise pertaining to black heritage and middle class wealth, individuals that fit under both of these statuses are ostracized. Steele proposes that the solution to this ostracization is for people to individualize themselves, and to ‘“move beyond the victim-focused black identity” (611). Steele supports his assertion by using evidence from his own life and incorporating social patterns to his text. To reach his intended audience of middle-class, black people, Steele’s utilizes casual yet, imperative diction.
Steele begins his essay with his recount of

This understanding marks the last shift in the essay. Steele is more sure of himself and his solution in this portion than earlier on in the text. This is perceived through diction like “we must” and “necessity” (610-611), these imperative words develop a strong opinion. This adds to the argument because an audience will tend to adhere to someone who is confident in themselves and what they are saying. Steele’s solution entails that people must begin to individualize themselves. As mentioned earlier, the black community became a singular people and although unification can be a positive idea, with unification comes division, which leads to seclusion. This is because unification occurs by a group sharing a common trait, however, there will always be those that do not have this trait and that is where division occurs and eventually seclusion is created. For this reason, Steele encourages his audience to move beyond “Race-as-identity”. He explains that individualization can be beneficial because it prevents general associations from being formed and without these associations people will feel less compelled to conform to them. Moreover, he wishes to rid society of the the victim-focused black identity because it “encourages the individual to feel that his advancement depends almost entirely of that group…[and] reimposes limitations that can have the same oppressive effect” (610). Writing “On Being Black and Middle Class” was Steele’s way to work through this issue that society has. Steele clarifies the issue and comes to the conclusion that the contradictory norms of being black and being middle class puts a strain on those who are both and the only way to lift this burden is for all of society to focus less on victimization and concentrate more on