Racial Inequality Trends and the Intergenerational Persistence of Income and Family Structure.

ABSTRACT: Racial disparity in family incomes remained remarkably stable over the past 40 years in the United States despite major legal and social reforms. Previous scholarship presents two primary explanations for persistent inequality through a period of progressive change. One highlights continuity: because socioeconomic status is transmitted from parents to children, disparities created through histories of discrimination and opportunity denial may dissipate slowly. The second highlights change: because family income results from joining individual earnings in family units, changing family compositions can offset individuals' changing economic chances. I examine whether black-white family income inequality trends are better characterized by the persistence of existing disadvantage (continuity) o

SUBMITTER: Bloome D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4598060 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature