Pondering: ARTICLE 4-Who Comprises Today's Black Middle Class?

Site Researcher, Felicia, dug out the following info about the present composition  of the black middle class and says the following about the bulky report below:

This is a 27-page read.  The below paragraph sums everything up in a nut shell.  I've made the same casual observations but obviously haven't gone in depth like these researchers have.

Anyway, it's very interesting (and sobering) reading.

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Submitted to Special Issue of Social Forces: April 2, 2007Accepted to Special Issue of Social Forces: September 5, 2007 The Emerging Black Middle Class The Emerging Black Middle Class: Single and Living Alone Kris Marsh, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillWilliam A. Darity Jr., Duke University Philip N. Cohen, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillLynne M. Casper, University of Southern California Danielle Salters, Duke University  The authors thank John­Charles Duffy, Barbara Entwisle, Bill Wentworth, the anonymous reviewers and conference and seminar participants for their extremely helpful comments. Direct correspondence to: Kris Marsh, Carolina  Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University Square, Campus Box 8120,123 West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516 2524. E mail:  ## email not listed ## . The literature on the black middle class has focused predominantly on married  couple families with children, reflecting a conception of the black middle class as  principally   composed   of   this   family   type.   If   that   conception   is   correct,   then  declining rates of marriage and childrearing would imply a decline in presence and the vitality of the black middle class. Indeed, this is the implication that   researchers typically draw from the decline in black marriage rates. However, an alternative   view   suggests   that   the   decline   in   marriage   and   childrearing   is  producing a shift in the types of households comprising the black middle class.  This paper assesses – and affirms – that alternative view. Our research shows   that, indeed, never­married singles who live alone (SALAs) constitute a rapidly growing   segment   of   the   black   middle   class,   a   development   which   requires  rethinking how the black middle class is conceptualized and studied. Borrowing the title of a popular film depicting black middle class SALAs, we dub this new   black middle class the “Love Jones Cohort.” Over the past three decades in the USA, the age of marriage has risen, divorce rates have remained relatively stable, cohabitation has soared, non marital childbearing has become more prevalent, marrying and having children have  become less common, and more women, especially mothers, are in the labor force (Casper and Bianchi 2002). With the exception of the trend toward not having children, these trends have been dramatically evident among blacks  (Tucker and Mitchell Kernan 1995). The retreat from marriage, in particular, has been more pronounced for blacks than for any other racial group (Raley 2000) These changes in family patterns invite questions about the demographics of the black middle class. Research  on the black middle class has focused predominantly on married couple families with children, reflecting a conception of  the black middle class as principally composed of this family type. If that conception is correct, then declining rates of marriage and childrearing would imply a decline in the presence and vitality of the black middle class. Indeed, this is the  implication that researchers typically draw from the decline in black marriage rates (Attewell et al. 2005; Besharov 2005; Billingsley 1986; Hill 1971; Landry 1987; McAdoo 1997; Smith and Welch 1986). However, an alternative view suggests  that the decline in marriage and childrearing is producing a shift in the types of households comprising the black middle class away from married couples with children and towards singles living alone.

http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/8/3/1/9/pages183199/p183199-1.php

Comments

[Felicia]

From page four of the report...

"In a similar vein, but at the opposite side of the economic spectrum, Edin and Kefalas (2005) question the causal direction between marriage and economic status. They find that poor women want to get married but that their potential mates are not good marriage material: they are poor, lack quality jobs, and are likely to have been in jail, to have drug and alcohol problems, and may be violent. For these women, the costs of marriage apparently outweigh its benefits."

For non black women - including the non black poor - the BENEFITS of marriage outweigh costs.

Since what is true for the rest of humanity (marriage being considered a benefit and something that helps instead of hurts) appears to be increasingly inverse in the AA "comunity", it only makes common sense for these poor black women to look OUTSIDE of their immediate environments (that have a larger amount of unmarriagable men) for a good mate and father to any subsequent children.

There are poor White, and Hispanic women with husbands. So poverty is NOT the reason why marriage rates are plumeting amongst the urban poor.

And poor Asian immigrant women (and others) are well known for exchanging their youth and/or beauty for a secure lifestyle here in America.

There is NO reason on God's green earth why black women - poor and rich alike - can't do at least as well marriage wise as their white, hispanic, and Asian counterparts.

The THINKING is what has to be changed.

What's insane is these days there is apparently some percentage of educated, middle class, and upper middle class black women ALSO "vying for the attention" of these CLEARLY unmarriagable men who are not father material.

NONE OF THIS MAKES SENSE.

Change your thinking ladies and change your life.