Dr. Deadric Williams, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Associate Professor, Sociology
Title: The Three M’s of Racial Inequality: A Conceptual Model for Understanding Structural Racism and Black Families
Abstract: Structural racism is central for understanding Black families, but structural racism has not been central to quantitative research on Black families. Instead, research on Black families has disproportionately used deficit frameworks and race-neutral explanations that misrepresent the reality of Black families. As an alternative, I propose a new conceptual model for studying Black family inequality by focusing on the making, the maintenance, and the manifestation of racial stratification. My key argument is that the preservation of Whiteness and structural anti-Blackness are involved in a mutually sustaining process, upheld by ideological and structural mechanisms that perpetuate Black-White inequality. To illustrate this, I integrate tenets from Critical Race Theory with concepts from racialized space theory to understand racial income inequality to examine whether income heterogeneity among Black families is better characterized by demographic characteristics (e.g., family structure and education) or racialized space (e.g., residing in predominately Black or predominately white census tracts). Using data from the Future of Families and Child Well-being Study, the 2000 Census, and the 5-Year American Community Survey (2011-2015), results show racialized space, rather than family structure and education, better characterizes income heterogeneity among Black families. Specifically, Black families living in predominately White spaces have higher levels of income compared to Black families living in predominately Black spaces, regardless of family structure and education. I recommend family and inequality scholars theorize racialized space (as a form of structural racism) for a more holistic understanding of Black Families’ income inequality.
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