• self-esteem
• African-American

Over time, self-esteem has been studied by social scientists and, indeed, there is a large body of literature on the topic. The notion of self-esteem has fascinated and engaged generations of theorists, scholars and intellectuals, who have focused, from every major perspective, in a stimulating exchange of interpretations on self-esteem as a central aspect of human life. In other words, self-esteem is considered a valuable concept for researchers as well as for writers because it helps to combine the composite interplay of individual and socio-cultural factors. My aim is to provide an integrated psychological and sociological synthesis of the constructs determining the multidimensional concept of self-esteem, in order to be able to examine self-esteem in various aspects of African-American life – for instance, family, academy, society and mass media – and literature, making reference to Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and several other influential authors and works.