ABSTRACT
The reservations about reform liberalism’s political ideas voiced by its critics have been reflected in the practices and trends of contemporary American political processes. The importance of George Herbert Mead’s ideas for contemporary sociology and for an understanding of the context and techniques of interest group politics derives from the power that they convey to the social environment for the creation of individual meaning. Practically, the first important development in the Black Movement in the twentieth century was the organization of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1910. The NAACP gave blacks a means for focusing their efforts, for raising funds, for communicating concern about the plight of the Negro, and for linking with sympathetic white leaders. The Johnson Administration drew important lessons from the Black Movement, and, in its efforts to build the “Great Society,” tried to use governmental powers to construct a social foundation for its policies.
