The Emerging Black Middle Class: Single and Living Alone

Marsh, Kris; Darity, William A., Jr.; Cohen, Philip N.; Casper, Lynne M.; & Salters, Danielle. (2007). The Emerging Black Middle Class: Single and Living Alone. Social Forces, 86(2), 735-62.

Reference Type:
Journal Article

Secondary Title:

Series Title:

Author(s):
Marsh, Kris
Darity, William A., Jr.
Cohen, Philip N.
Casper, Lynne M.
Salters, Danielle

Editor(s):

Series Author(s):

Year Published:
2007

Date Published:

Journal Name:
Social Forces

Volume Number:
86

Issue Number:
2

Start Page Number:
735-62

End Page Number:

Edition:

Series Volume:

Publisher:

City of Publication:

ISSN/ISBN:

DOI:
10.1353/sof.2008.0008

PMCID:

NIHMSID:

Reference ID:
3297

Miscellaneous:

Abstract:

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 the presence and vitality of the black middle class, lndeed, 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. This research shows that, indeed, never-married singles who live alone (Love Jones Cohort) constitute a rapidly growing segment of the black middle class, a development which requires rethinking how the black middle class is conceptualized and studied.

Keyword(s):
Fertility, Families, and Children
Life Course Perspectives
Population Movement, Diversity, Inequality

URL:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/sof.2008.0008

Notes:

Reprinted in book- Record 4198.

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Citation:

Marsh, Kris; Darity, William A., Jr.; Cohen, Philip N.; Casper, Lynne M.; & Salters, Danielle. (2007). The Emerging Black Middle Class: Single and Living Alone. Social Forces, 86(2), 735-62.