[Disambiguator]

This still boils down to blaming someone else for your own failures.

[monday]

"This still boils down to blaming someone else for your own failures."

No. It doesn't. It explains that some cultures are more successful at producing healthy productive members of society than others.

I don't think anyone would argue that White Trash culture is a successful one that produces successful people, and if that is what Black Urban culture is derived from, then it explains why Black Urban culture is also so unsuccessful.

[muir_redwoods]

"This still boils down to blaming someone else for your own failures."

I don't see it that way. Sowell is saying that a set of beliefs and cultural norms that didn't serve the 17th century British very well and didn't lead the 19th and 20th century southern whites to prosperity is now holding the urban blacks from economic success. He's not blaming any one person or group of people but he is making the point that a culture of anti-intellectualism and a lack of belief in the possibility of one's personal success will not serve any people well.