The Souls of Black Folk and the Sociological Analysis of Race in Our Times

Abstract The Souls of Black Folk is regarded by sociologists, scholars of race theory, and intellectual historians of race as a foundational text for modernist thinking about the social conditions of the African American community. It is foundational for contemporary thought about the social, cultural, intellectual, psychological, and political implications of race in the twenty-first century. The magnitude of the arguments in Souls, together with its enduring impact over time, creates a robust challenge for constructing definitive portraits of the book’s contributions to intellectual, political, and social thought. This chapter thus demonstrates the importance of Souls for forward-thinking approaches to scholarship in sociology. It considers how this work addresses two contemporary problematics in the production of modern sociological scholarship concerning race. The first involves situating a more expansive vision of subjectivity within such work. The second concerns a more thorough elucidation of humility within it.