Drawing from an ethnography, this paper evaluates the motivations of Black American and Black immigrant parents when selecting high schools for their millennial teenage children in a segregated city and suburbs of New York. Black middle class parents encounter racial exclusion in the areas of work and residence. However, more research is needed to…

While the literature on the experiences of working-class Students of Color at selective, historically White institutions has grown significantly over the past twenty-five years, how this student population is making sense of their social class identity as they gain access to dominant cultural and social capital at their institutions remains…

This paper draws on qualitative data exploring the experiences of first-generation middle-class Black Caribbean-heritage parents, their own parents, and their children. We focus on the different ways in which race and class intersect in shaping attitudes towards education and subsequent educational practices. We argue that the nature of racism has…

Few research studies focus on middle class Blacks. This paper analyzes historical and contemporary perspectives of the group and illustrates how social mobility and social change influence the economic and political competitiveness of Blacks. Approaches and techniques for studying Blacks as part of the larger society are suggested. (VM)

The theoretical orientation of this study of the extended, black, middle-class, is two-fold: (1) the socialization of children in black families differs from other families because of their nonsupportive wider environment, and (2) the extended kin network facilitates upward mobility. To test these hypotheses, 305 black parents were questionned…

The last half century has seen a dramatic expansion in access to primary, secondary, and higher education in many nations around the world. Educational expansion is desirable for a country's economy, beneficial for educated individuals themselves, and is also a strategy for greater social harmony. But has greater access to education reduced or…

Underlying the dramatic surge in Black middle class development during the 1960s were significant changes in Black mobility patterns. An increasing proportion of Black males inherited their fathers' middle class positions. In contrast, White males experienced only very slight shifts in mobility patterns during the same period. (Author/RLV)

This study used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (comprised of three subsamples taken in 1979) to characterize the siblings of middle class and poor Blacks and Whites, testing for racial differences in the probability of having a sibling on the other side of the socioeconomic divide. In support of theories in the urban poverty…

Examines Black occupational mobility and factors that have influenced the growth of the Black middle class since the 1960s. Argues that the Black middle class occupies a fragile market position because Black mobility depends on fluctuating government policy rather than on free market factors. (Author/MJL)

Demonstrates that the number of low income or "underclass" Black families has increased over the past decade, while the proportion of low income Black families in the general population has remained relatively unchanged. However, there does not seem to be a widening economic cleavage within the Black community itself. (Author/GC)

Examines data on middle class Black mobility from (1) a traditional methodological orientation and (2) a historical and sociocultural perspective that considers the development of the Black community. Discusses why the two perspectives produce different results regarding the socioeconomic status of the parents of middle class Blacks. (GC)

States that liberals fail to acknowledge data which show that black Americans have made significant progress in moving into the middle class. (DM)

Federal social programs in the 1960s allowed for the emergence of a Black middle class. Current government proposals for massive budget cuts in social programs limit the traditional avenues of access to the middle class and deny many poor Blacks the opportunity to attain the American dream. (Author/MJL)

Investigates the relationship between widespread childhood poverty and the effect of deep parental rootedness in nonaffluence, focusing on middle-class Blacks. As a group, disproportionate numbers of them have experienced poverty. Results indicate attitudinal and behavioral legacies of poverty and suggest interclass similarities in the Black…

Discusses the struggles of middle- and lower-class black women to use social programs and affirmative action mandates to advance their status. Examines ways their struggles have affected their self-perceptions and relationships with each other. (Author/JS)