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Chapter 8 African Americans Today Education • African Americans place special importance on acquiring education • Racial and ethnic groups realize that formal schooling is key to social mobility • Documented inadequacy of quality and quantity of education © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Education • Educational gap between Blacks and Whites – Always been present – Gap is narrowing in recent years • Many students would not drop out of school were it not for inadequacies noted: – Insensitive teachers © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Education – Poor counseling – Unresponsive administrators – Overcrowded classes – Irrelevant curricula – Dilapidated school facilities • Several can be addressed with more funding • Some are stalemated by disagreements © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. School Segregation • De jure patterns of segregation – According to policy or law children were assigned to schools on the basis of race – U.S Supreme Court decision in 1954 - Brown v. Board of Education Topeka, Kansas. • De facto Segregation – Results from residential patterns © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. School Segregation • Apartheid Schools – Refers to schools that are all Black – 1 of 6 of the nation’s Black students are in attendance • Tracking – Placing students in specific curriculum groups on the basis of test scores and other criteria © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. School Segregation • African American children disproportionately assigned to – General classes and more White children placed in college preparatory classes • Integration is not one of the successes of public education © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Acting White, Acting Black, or Neither • “Acting White” • Shifts responsibility of low school attainment from school to the individual • Overemphasizes personal responsibility, not structural features – – Quality of schools, curriculum, and teachers © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Higher Education • An increase in African American students going to college and graduating • Upward trend to higher education has declined and in part is a function of: – Decline in educational financial aid © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Higher Education – Push for higher standards – Employment opportunities – Negative publicity and a decline in enforcement of affirmative action – Racial incidents on college campuses © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. The Economic Picture • Income and Wealth – Two measures of overall economic situation of an individual or household • Income – Refers to salaries, wages, and other money received © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. The Economic Picture • Wealth – Encompass all of a person’s material assets, including land & other types of property • In 2009 – Median income of Black families was $32,584 • Compared with $54,461 for White non-Hispanic households © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. The Economic Picture • Black income today resembles that of Whites more than 10 years ago – 25.8% of Black people lived below poverty level & 9.4% of non-Hispanic Whites • Wealth demonstrates greater disparity – Generations of social inequity left Blacks unable to accumulate the wealth of Whites © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Employment • Factors explaining official unemployment rate of young African American males – Many live in depressed economy of central cities – Immigrants and illegal aliens present increased competition © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Employment – White middle-class women entered the labor force – Illegal activities youth find they can make more money have become more prevalent • Official unemployment rate – Unemployed people are only people actively seeking employment © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Employment – Leaves out millions of Americans, Black & White • Underemployment – Refers to working at a job for which one is overqualified, involuntarily working part-time, • Or being employed only intermittently © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Family Life • Challenges to Family Stability – Female-headed household – Economic status of African-American male has been deteriorating – Extended family & augmented members as a means of emotional, social & physical support © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Family Life • Sociologists attribute rapid expansion of single-parent households to shifts in the – Economy that keep Black men, especially in urban areas, out of work – Phenomenon not limited to African Americans © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Strengths of African American Families • Robert Hill (1999) – 1. Strong kinship bonds – 2. Strong work orientation – 3. Adaptability of family roles – 4. Strong achievement orientation – 5. A strong religious orientation © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Strengths of African American Families • Most consistently documented strength – Presence of an extended family household • Most common feature – Having grandparents residing in the home – Extended living arrangements more common among Black households than White ones © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. The African American Middle Class • Migration of middle-class African Americans from ghetto in 1970s & 1980s – No longer present as role models • African American middle-class do not – Automatically accept all aspects of White middle-class © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. The African American Middle Class • W.E.B. DuBois (1952) – When racism decreases, class issues become more important • Class – Sociologist Max Weber • Sociologist William J. Wilson – The Declining Significance of Race (1980) © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Housing • Plays a major role in determining quality of a person’s life • For African Americans, housing has been restricted through discrimination • President Kennedy Executive Order • 1968 Federal Fair Housing Law and U.S. Supreme Court decision of Jones v. Mayer © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Residential Segregation • Factors that create residential segregation in the United States – Private prejudice and discrimination – Prejudicial policies of real estate companies – Ineffective enforcement of anti-bias legislation – Public housing policies and past construction patterns reinforce housing for the poor © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Residential Segregation – Banks & other lenders create barriers based on race to financing home purchasing • Redlining – Discrimination against people trying to: • Buy homes in minority/racially changing neighborhoods © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Residential Segregation • Zoning Laws – Enacted to ensure specific standards of housing construction – Can also separate industrial and commercial enterprises from residential areas – Some appear to curb development of low and moderate-income housing © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Criminal Justice • Blacks constitute (2010): – 4.7% of the lawyers – 14.1% of police – 14.9% of detectives – 28.6% of security guards – 39% of jail inmates © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Criminal Justice • FBI’s Uniform Crime Report – Black’s account for 28% of arrests • Even though they represent only about 12% of the nation’s population • Conflict Theory – UCR focuses on index crimes most often committed by low-income people © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Criminal Justice • Victimization Surveys – Annual systematic interviews of ordinary people to reveal how much crime occurs • Show that African-Americans are 35% more likely to be victims of violent crime than Whites • Differential Justice – Whites dealt with more leniently than Blacks © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Criminal Justice – Whether at the time of • Investigation, arrest, indictment, conviction, sentencing, incarceration, or parole • Application of differential justice to the harshest judgment that can be made: – In the legal system – The Death Penalty © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Health Care • Black men are much more likely to fall victim to: – Unrelenting stress – Heart disease – Cancer • Death from hypertension twice as high as Whites © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Health Care • Blacks’ high mortality rates from heart disease, kidney disease, and strokes • Conflict Perspective – Howard Waitzkin (1986) • Racial tensions contribute to the medical problems of African Americans © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Health Care • Stress from racial prejudice and discrimination help to explain high rates of hypertension • Blacks represent 6% of practicing physicians • Issues of environmental justice © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Politics • Barack Obama entered the White House as president in 2009 • Only 42 African American congressional representatives • Locally elected Black officials have difficulty jumping to statewide office © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Politics • African Americans have not received an equal share of the political pie • Non-Black voters are concerned that view of Whites and non-Blacks: – Will not be represented by an African American © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Politics • Gerrymandering – Dated from 1810 – The bizarre outlining of districts to create politically advantageous outcomes © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.