African American Families / Edition 1

by Angela J. Hattery

Overview

African American Families provides a systematic sociological study of contemporary life for families of African descent living in the United States. Analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data, authors Angela J. Hattery and Earl Smith identify the structural barriers that African Americans face in their attempts to raise their children and create loving, healthy, and prosperous families.

Key Features: Uses the lens provided by the race, class, and gender paradigm: Examples illustrate the ways in which multiple systems of oppression interact with patterns of self-defeating behavior to create barriers that deny many African Americans access to the American dream. Addresses issues not fully or adequately covered in previous books on black families: These issues include personal responsibility, disproportionately high rates of incarceration, family violence, and chronic illnesses such as HIV/AIDS. Brings statistical data to life: The authors weave personal stories based on interviews they have conducted into the usual data from scholarly literature and from U.S. Census Bureau reports. Provides several illustrations from Hurricane Katrina: A contemporary analysis of a recent disaster demonstrates many of the issues presented in the book, such as housing segregation and predatory lending practices. Offers extensive data tables in the appendices: Assembled in easy-to-read tables, students are given access to the latest data from national agencies, including the U.S. Census Bureau, Centers for Disease Control, and Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2901412924664
Publication date:	04/19/2007
Pages:	408
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.84(d)

About the Author

Angela J. Hattery is Professor of the Women & Gender Studies and co-Director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Gender Based Violence at the University of Delaware. She received her BA in sociology and anthropology from Carleton College and her masters and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the author of 12 books. Her most recent Way Down in the Hole: Race, Intimacy and the Reproduction of Racial Ideologies in Solitary Confinement explores the ways in which racial antagonisms are exacerbated by the particular structures of solitary confinement. She is also the author of Policing Black Bodies: How Black Lives are Surveilled and How to Work for Change(2022) and Gender, Power and Violence: Responding to Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence in Society Today.Prior to coming to UD she held positions at Ball State University, Wake Forest University, Colgate University, and most recently at George Mason University.

Earl Smith, Ph D, is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of American Ethnic Studies and Sociology at Wake Forest University, and is currently teaching classes in Sociology, African and African American Studies, and Women & Gender Studies at the University of Delaware. Dr. Smith earned his Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut. His teaching and research focus on the sociology of sport, social stratification, and the intersection of race and the criminal justice system. He is the author of 12 books, including his most recent book, Way Down in the Hole: Race, Intimacy and the Reproduction of Racial Ideologies in Solitary Confinement (2021). The book is based on three summers of ethnographic research in a large state penitentiary system. Methodologically, we conducted over 100 face-to-face interviews with inmates and correctional officers. His other books include Policing Black Bodies: How Black Lives are Surveilled and How to Work for Change (2022) and Gender, Power and Violence: Responding to Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence in Society Today and Race, Sport and the American Dream (2014).

Table of Contents

Preface     xiv
Acknowledgments     xix
African American Families: A Brief Introduction     1
Objectives     1
Introduction     2
What We Hope to Accomplish     2
The Question of Social Class     4
Data Sources     5
Organization of the Book     6
Notes     8
African American Civil Society: Issues, Approaches, Demography, and Theory     9
Objectives     9
Introduction     10
Definitions     10
Family     10
Race and Ethnicity     12
Race as a Social Construct     13
African American Families     15
Structural Versus Individual Explanations     16
African American Families: A Profile     17
Family Structure     18
Intimate Partner Violence     19
Health, Well-Being, and Access to Health Care     20
Work and Education     20
Poverty and Wealth     21
Incarceration     22
Theoretical Approaches to Studying African American Families     22
Social Pathology     23
The Strength Approach     26
Race, Class, and Gender Paradigm     30
A Comparison of Race, Class, and Gender Theory With Critical Race Theory     32
Data and Methods     33
Qualitative Interviews     33
Triangulation of Method     35
Notes     36
Family Formation, Marriage Rates, and Cohabitation     38
Objectives     38
Introduction     39
Factors That Affect Family Form     39
The Economy     40
Religion     41
Functions and Purposes of Marriage     41
Economic Function     42
Sexual Access     42
Establishing Paternity and Guaranteeing Childrearing     43
Marriage Patterns     44
The Marriage Gap     45
"Low Morality" and Critiques     45
Ideology and Norms     46
Hegemonic and Alternative Ideologies     47
The Role of Welfare in Shaping Family Forms     48
The Male Marriageable Pool: The Impact of Unemployment and Incarceration     48
Education and Employment     49
Incarceration     49
Black-White Intermarriage     49
In Their Own Words     52
Unemployment and Underemployment: Ronny and Tammy     55
Incarceration, Drugs, and Unemployment: Will and Stella and Wanda and Chris     55
Race, Class, and Gender Analysis     57
Summary: Outcomes of the Low Marriage Rate     58
Solutions     59
Notes     60
Childbearing and Childrearing Patterns     61
Objectives     61
Introduction     62
Childbearing Patterns     62
Medical Outcomes     63
School Completion and Consequent Poverty     64
Reliance on Welfare and Problems for the Teen Mother and Her Children     64
Tammy's Story     65
Child Abuse     66
Probability of Incarceration for Children Born to Teen Mothers     67
Nonmarital Births     67
Where Are the Fathers?     69
Nonmarital Teen Childbearing     70
Why Have a Baby?     72
Sexual Activity     72
The Economy/Opportunity Structure     74
Norms     75
Premature Sex Engagement     77
Race, Class, and Gender Paradigm     81
Conclusions     82
Solutions     82
Notes     83
Intimate Partner Violence     85
Objectives     85
Introduction     86
Definitions     86
The Problem     87
The Family Violence Approach     88
The Feminist Paradigm     89
Race, Class, and Gender Approach to Studying IPV     90
The Dirty Little Secret: IPV in the African American Community     91
African American Women as Victims/Survivors of IPV: Statistics/Rates     93
Women and Economic Dependency     95
Early Experiences With Sex, Sexual Abuse, and Risk for IPV     98
The Pathway From Sexual Abuse in Childhood to IPV in Adulthood     100
Men and Masculinity     102
African American Masculinity: The Cool Pose     103
Discourses of Masculinity     104
Breadwinning     104
Breadwinning in the Current Economic Climate     105
Women as Nags, Spendthrifts, and Lazy, and Men's Failure to Provide     108
Women as Nags     108
Failure as a Provider     109
The Bedroom     110
Jealousy     112
Race, Class, and Gender Paradigm     116
Poverty     116
Unemployment/Underemployment      117
Incarceration     117
Solutions     118
Notes     118
HIV and Other Social and Health Issues     123
Objectives     124
Introduction     124
The State of Health and Well-Being in African American Civil Society     124
Racial Disparities in Chronic Diseases     125
Mental Illness     129
Racial Disparities in HIV/AIDS     130
Modes of Transmission     132
Leading Causes of Death     134
Infant Mortality     137
Outcomes of Poor Health: Premature Death     140
Ronny     142
Causes of Poor Health and Death     143
Poverty     143
Lifestyle     144
Access to Health Insurance     144
Access to Health Care     147
Winston-Salem: A Case Study     148
Delays in Treatment     149
HIV/AIDS     150
Delays in Treatment     150
Incarceration     151
Ignorance/Denial: Men Having Sex With Men, or "the Down Low"     153
Religion, Homophobia, and HIV/AIDS in the African American Community     155
Environmental Injustice      156
Environmental Causes of Poor Health: Norco     156
The Politics of Health Care     157
The Genetics (and Politics) of Race/Ethnicity and Health     157
Drugs Targeted at African Americans     158
A History of Mistrust     159
Segregated Medicine     160
The Tuskegee Experiments     161
The Eugenics Movement     162
Race, Class, and Gender Paradigm     163
Solutions     164
Notes     165
Access to Opportunity: Educational Attainment and Occupational Segregation     170
Objectives     171
Introduction     171
A Brief History of Race and Education     172
Educational Attainment     174
Access to Education: Legacy     177
The Economy     177
Slavery and Occupations     181
The Work Done by African Americans     181
The Myth of Laziness     182
Race, Class, and Gender: African American Women's History of Work     183
Occupations and Work     184
Social Class Bias: White Men as Doctors, Lawyers, and College Professors     185
All African American Men Are Professional Athletes     186
Occupational Segregation: The Impact of Race and Gender     187
Industry Segregation     188
Establishment Segregation     188
Causes of Occupational Segregation     189
Education and Human Capital     190
Access to the Opportunity Structure: Occupational Legacy     190
Coaching     190
Medicine/Law/Business/Academics     191
Politics     191
Skilled Labor Unions     192
Discrimination     193
Social Capital and Employment     195
Incarceration     195
Outcomes of Occupational Segregation     197
Unemployment     197
Male Marriageable Pool     199
Intimate Partner Violence     199
Financial Outcomes: Lower Earnings     200
Race, Class, and Gender Paradigm     201
Solutions     202
Notes     203
Welfare and Wealth     205
Objectives     206
Introduction     206
Income Versus Wealth     206
Income and Income Disparities     207
Wealth and Wealth Disparities     209
Wealth Disparities and Access to the American Dream?     212
Housing      213
Housing Discrimination     214
Housing Segregation     215
A Clear Illustration: Hurricane Katrina     216
Poverty     218
Welfare     220
Welfare Reform     221
Stereotypes About Welfare and Poverty     222
Welfare Versus Work     224
Welfare Reform and Family Values     226
Welfare Reform and Incarceration, or African American Mothers Are Crackheads     228
Race, Class, and Gender Paradigm     229
Solutions     231
Notes     231
African American Males and the Incarceration Problem: Not Just Confined to Prison     233
Objectives     234
Introduction     235
Definitions     235
Prisons as Total Institutions     236
The Growth of Prisons: Institutions and Population     237
The Role of Drug Laws in the Growth of Prisons     238
The Purpose of Prison: Rehabilitation or a Tool of Capitalism?     241
The Demographics of the Prison Population: Gender and Race     242
Gender     242
Race     243
Explaining Racial Disparities in Incarceration     245
The Effects of Incarceration on the Lives of Young African American Men     249
Loss in the African American Community: Economic Costs     251
Loss in the African American Community: Human Capital     252
An Illustration: The Case of Darryl Hunt     253
Social Capital     255
Social Capital In and Out: An Illustration From North Carolina     257
Political Capital: Census Recalculation and Felon Disenfranchisement     260
The Impact of Incarceration on the Census     260
Felony Disenfranchisement     261
Other Bans-Social Services     262
Employment Bans     263
Driver's License     264
Cash Assistance, Food Stamps, and Public Housing     264
Student Loans     264
Parenting From Behind Bars and the Adverse Effects on Children     265
Statistics on Parents     266
Statistics on Children     266
Parenting From Behind Bars: The Importance of Visitation     267
The Effects of Incarceration     268
The Impact of Bans on Family Life After Release     270
Physical Capital     271
Penal Capital (Prisoner Labor)     272
Factory Work     273
Manual Labor     273
Direct Marketing to Local Communities     274
Service Sector Work     275
Race, Class, and Gender Paradigm     276
Solutions     279
Notes     281
Conclusion: Solutions to a Long-Standing Problem: Race, Class, and Patriarchy in the 21st Century     285
Summary and Review of the Primary Themes     285
Degrees of Separation     289
High Rates of Social Problems     289
Severe Housing Segregation     290
Limited and Recent Access to the Opportunity Structure     291
A Snapshot of the African American Family     292
The Struggles     293
The Causes     295
The Economy     296
The Welfare System     298
The Growth of the Prison Industrial Complex     299
Bans     299
Family Form     300
The Relationship Between Structural Forces and Individual Choices: An Illustration From the Life of a Battered Woman     300
Contextualizing Sheri's "Choices"     301
What Is to Be Done?     302
Structural Forces: Race, Class, and Gender     303
Economic Solutions     303
Living Wage     303
Employment     304
Health Insurance      304
Affordable Housing     305
Parental Support for Children     305
Revamp Welfare     306
Equal Access to Education     307
Reduce/Eliminate Discrimination in Health Care     309
Alternatives to Incarceration for Nonviolent Offenders     310
Preventing and Interrupting Intimate Partner Violence     310
Honesty About HIV     312
Individual Solutions     313
Final Thoughts     315
Notes     317
Appendixes     318
References     349
Index     371
About the Authors     385