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…

This paper is organized into four parts. Part One, The Historical Pattern and Its Study, notes that the impulse to suburbanize is probably as old as the city itself. However, because of magnitude alone, contemporary suburban settlement would have to be assessed as a phenomenon that is uniquely different from its predecessors. Part Two, The Changed…

AN ASSESSMENT IS MADE OF VARIABLES THAT ENCOURAGE OR DISCOURAGE PARTICIPATION IN AMERICAN SOCIETY. ONE VARIABLE IS THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF FELT NEEDS, WHICH ARE DETERMINED PARTLY BY PERSONALITY BUT FAR MORE--ESPECIALLY AMONG THE POOR--BY ENVIRONMENT. ANOTHER IS THE RANGE OF OPPORTUNITIES THAT ONE CAN IDENTIFY FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE LABOR MARKET…

Over the past few decades, social reproduction theorists have criticized achievement ideology as a dominant and dominating myth that hides the true nature of class immobility. Social reproductionists' primary criticism of achievement ideology is that it blinds the working class, regardless of race or gender, to the possibilities of collective…

Schools cannot change the language of children; the entire social structure is involved, particularly our patterns of social mobility and the values of lower class culture. At the early elementary level, children should be encouraged to use their own language to the fullest extent. Reading instruction for these youngsters should concern characters…

When the first black colleges were founded more than a century ago they filled an important need for youth who were denied access to all but a few white institutions. Today these same private colleges must compete with more affluent, prestigious white colleges and universities for funding and for black students and teachers. They are losing in…