The New Black Middle Class

by Bart Landry

Overview

In this important new book, Bart Landry contributes significantly to the study of black American life and its social stratification and to the study of American middle class life in general.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520908987
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	09/01/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	264
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Bart Landry is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland.

Table of Contents

Preface 

Introduction: Middle-Class Blacks and the American Dream 

1 The Old Black Middle Class: Dilemma of Race in a Class Society 
2 The New Black Middle Class: Has Race Been Eclipsed? 
3 Moving On Up: At Last a Piece of the Pie 
4 How Big a Piece? 
5 Life in the Middle: In Pursuit of the American Dream 
6 Consumption: Where, What, and How Much 
7 Life Style: And the Living Is Easy, or Is It? 
8 The New Black Middle Class in the 1980s: Checking Its Vital Signs 

Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

Since its publication in the 1950s, E. Franklin Frazier's The Black Bourgeoisie has been the standard work on the black middle class. Landry's book on blacks in middle-class America both supplements and supercedes Frazier's work. Utilizing data he compiled in 1976 as well as 1970 and 1980 census statistics, Landry (Sociology, Univ. of Maryland) documents what he labels the ``new'' black middle class and concludes its future faces uncertain growth. He emphasizes the widening economic gap between the white and black middle class. Still, he is hopeful. Although he depends heavily on data now a decade old, he also synthesizes much of the secondary literature since Frazier. Only time and extensive scholarly appraisal will tell how this compares with Frazier's work, but it deserves serious attention. Highly recommended. Boyd Childress, Auburn Univ. Lib., Ala.

Library Journal