Sojourning And The Welfare Economy

This chapter examines two issues that are critical to understanding the social and institutional forces that reproduce internal colonialism on the South Side of Chicago, sojourning on the part of middleman minorities and the role of the welfare economy in producing economic dependence in the black community. The central argument of this chapter is that the relationship between middleman merchants, black consumers, and the social welfare system reenforces internal colonial conditions in the black community. This argument focuses on the nexus between middleman minorities and the welfare economy. This relationship entails a unique set of perceptions and attitudes about minority markets, which middleman minorities hold.