Oikophobia: African Americans, Alienation, and Family

If it’s true that ideologies have root causes in family or ancestral resentments, then we have come close to understanding the motivation of those who actively campaign against the principles of color-blindness in America today. Ideologies of race like CRT, antiracism, and DEI all revolve around seemingly intractable issues that plague the African American family. 

In discussions of race and racism, we often include the moniker “people of color,” but in my opinion, those discussions are often mostly about the status of African Americans in America today. In particular, the motivation behind the embrace of ideologies of race among African Americans is fueled by a type of alienation with roots in hatred of the familiar. The alienation I have in mind is akin to the intellectual mindset that was characterized by the English philosopher Roger Scruton as the rejection of what’s near and home-like: 

. . . a hatred of home, which has been a frequent disease among intellectuals. . .. He [the intellectual] sees that which is his “own,” his inheritance, as alien; he has fallen out of communication with it and feels tainted by its claim on him. . .. Therefore he portrays his home as something Other . . .. 

Scruton named the phenomenon he describes above, which is mostly seen in the West, as “oikophobia.” The term is a combination of two ancient Greek words, phobia (fear, aversion) and oikos (home, house). Those who suffer from oikophobia are unmoored from their native soil, home, community, and country. In the American context, this person has a deep disdain for America, its way of life, and its institutions. Scruton has done us a service by coining such a term, although the phenomenon he describes seems to be as old as Western civilization itself. 

In a similar way, the alienation from the broader American community among African Americans accounts for the embrace of color-conscious ideologies such as antiracism and the like. The ideologies are a lament, if you will; a byproduct of negative cultural factors that exist within the community itself. These factors retard the development of public affections among African Americans that are routinely seen and expressed in other communities in American life. Having affection for the whole—community and country—first begins with having had one’s affections nurtured and developed by the part—family and neighborhood. If these beginnings are in any way attenuated or unable to transmit the proper values unimpeded to an individual or group, their affection for the whole will be warped. The political stateman Edmund Burke puts it best in his Reflections on the Revolution in France: “To be attached to the subdivision, to love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ as it were) of public affections.” 

In my book, The Virtue of Color-Blindness, I argue that the racial vulnerability that makes the African American community susceptible to these ideologies is rooted in the breakdown of the African American family. It’s within the little platoon of the family that we learn to love ourselves, our neighborhood, our community, our city, our state and, most important, our country. 

So many of the social and personal ills that plague African Americans originate in the home, in the family. Those who most display the qualities of oikophobia, particularly its alienation from the familiar, are not centered within family networks of strong marriages that promote individual flourishing. Families with mothers, fathers, and siblings cradle and center individuals. These families model behaviors and direct natural desires toward their natural ends. When a family fails to perform its function, its members seek other means to fill the void. The way that some young African Americans have handled the disorientation of having fractured families is to latch onto a variety of destructive behaviors or racially exclusionary ideas that are color-conscious, not color-blind. They seek a false sense of belonging, for example, in gang-like settings or in racialized affinity groups. While there are certainly many exceptions to this characterization of the African American community, I’m speaking here in general.

African Americans deserve to have centered lives built around healthy family relationships and to feel grounded in the communities in which they reside as accepted members of their towns, cities, states. It is well documented that children are the healthiest when raised by their heterosexual, biological parents who love and care about them. Community activists and academics who contort themselves to justify ever-new iterations of family formation are only hurting the communities they think they’re helping. Additionally, there is mounting evidence that children must have healthy relationships with both a mother and father if their developmental trajectory is to be a flourishing one in adulthood. 

Having a healthy family experience leads to having a respectful attitude towards your community and fellow Americans, regardless of race. At one time, generations of past African Americans did experience racism, and the constant stress of a life surrounded by people who disliked them because of the color of their skin. This knowledge should not be forgotten. But here, too, the intact African American family served as a bulwark for its family members. It was a boot-strapping enterprise, and a very good one! It’s difficult for oikophobia to take root in individuals from happy, stable, well-adjusted families. The intact African American family that fought for integration, color-blindness, family values, and overall well-being for the country pointed the way forward for the country as a whole, and it continues to pay dividends to society today. Furthermore, racial harmony in the public square will lead to a more positive experience for everyone. If we must speak about “social justice,” it should reflect the goal of interpersonal development coupled with better education through choice, healthy family experiences with one’s family, and a society that strives to practice fairness, equality, and color-blindness. 

One way to push back against oikophobia in the African American community is to teach the success sequence to our youth. The success sequence, once a widely agreed-upon cultural precept, would emphasize to African American youth that they should finish high school, get a good job, and get married before having children. The success sequence has a proven track record when it comes to promoting personal fulfillment and societal cohesion. Take marriage, for example. The income gap between married black couples and white married couples is bridgeable, whereas the income gap between black single parents and white married couples is astronomical. This is to say nothing of the fact that roughly 33% of black children, according to the latest Current Population Survey (CPS), live in a married, two parent household. The vast majority of black children are raised in single, female-headed households. Despite the valiant effort single black mothers show in raising their children, they can’t be both good mothers and good fathers, and they shouldn’t have to be. 

As W. Brad Wilcox, Director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, has documented, the negative psychological and social effects of fatherlessness on black boys have been devastating. The psychological toll can manifest in many destructive ways. Research shows that young black boys have more behavioral problems in the early school years and more delinquency or criminal behavior as adolescents and adults. Unfortunately, some academics have even argued that the idea of a two-parent home, the need for fathers and mothers, is a racist construct produced by a powerful white majority. Nothing could be further from the truth. The breakdown of the black family is the root cause of so many of the social ills that confront the black community, black males, and the American community as a whole. 

Given all of this, the success sequence and its timeless values should be vitally important to the African American community. Otherwise, oikophobia, alienation from the broader American community, and the anti-color-blind ideologies that stem from it will persist among African Americans until we are made whole, mostly by our own efforts, and are able to give our children all the psychological tools needed to be happy and successful adults. 

Andre Archie is an Associate Professor of Ancient Greek Philosophy at Colorado State University. His latest book is The Virtue of Color-Blindness.