Temporal attitudes in four negro subcultures
pp. 402-417
in: Fraser, Francis C. Haber, Gert H. Müller (eds), The study of time, Berlin, Springer, 1972Abstract
Similar attitudes toward time are found in the Negro subcultures of low socioeconomic status in West Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, and the Unites States. Contributing and interrelated factors in the formation of these temporal attitudes are traditional West African cosmology and religious practices, the priority given to communal activities, and the absence of delayed reinforcement in child-rearing. In addition, colonial subjugation or slavery has influenced the selection of defense mechanisms which reduce the pressure of time through denial, rationalization, and compensation. In these four Negro subcultures, temporal attitudes appear in the temporal arts, the nature of festivity, the ephemeral materialism, the access to spontaneity, and the sensitivity to social resonance.