The status and prospects of African-Americans in contemporary society are of immense significance. They speak both to the conscience of the society and to ominous social and political portends. Involving issues of essential fairness and social justice are the practical problems of widespread poverty, unemployment, and the pervasive lack of opportunity stemming from stinted education. The stage is set for a national program of basic institutional reforms addressing the root causes of the African-American community's often analyzed but uncorrected economic, political, and social problems.

The authors make a convincing argument that the emphases for solutions to the widespread social conditions gripping the African-American population need to be on the social processes that so victimize this segment of the nation's citizenry. They see societal institutions as capable of furthering or retarding progress not only in the economic order but also in its interactions with the political and criminal justice systems. Income disparities, lack of access to higher education, political exclusion, and unequal treatment in criminal justice administration are all seen as contributing to the characteristic institutional neglect or flawed program application. The authors make a compelling case for reform not only in the interest of social justice but for the assurance of a more productive and cohesive society.