Jason E. Shelton

Race, class, and the basis of group alignment: An analysis of support for redistributive policy among privileged blacks

Sociological research has not adequately assessed levels of support for redistributive policy among African Americans. This oversight is particularly notable considering the dispersion of blacks across the American class structure. This article seeks to fill this gap in our understanding by addressing two concerns: (a) whether blacks with higher versus lower socioeconomic status espouse disparate policy preferences and (b) whether a privileged class position matters in the same way in structuring black and white beliefs about the role of government. Results from pooled data from the 1996 through 2006 General Social Surveys indicate that blacks more strongly support government efforts to ameliorate inequality than whites. However, black policy preferences fluctuate after controlling for intraracial socioeconomic differences. Privileged blacks are less supportive of racially-neutral opportunity-enhancing and outcome-based policies; these same respondents espouse contrasting levels of support for racially-specific policies. The implications for these findings are discussed, as well as suggestions for future research.

Socioeconomic status and racial group interests among black Americans

ABSTRACT This study assesses predictions from the dominant ideology thesis and theory of group interest concerning the relationship between socioeconomic status and racial solidarity across three domains of racial ideology. Findings from a local area sample (N = 184) in Cleveland, Ohio, provide considerable support for the theory of group interest. Racial solidarity indicators, such as the perception of discrimination, transcend individual socioeconomic status in constructing a group-based racial viewpoint. Conversely, traditional measures of class position, such as income and education, fail to induce attitudinal variation across the analyzed domains, namely causal attributions, racial politics, and attitudes toward interracial intimacy. In fact, the subjective social class measure, occupational prestige, tends to promote differences favorable to racial solidarity. These findings undermine the long-established conclusion that increased socioeconomic status exerts a conservatizing influence over racially/ethnically-specific attitudes. The implications shed light on the extent to which racial worldviews exist and directions for future research are mentioned.

THE INVESTMENT IN BLACKNESS HYPOTHESIS

This article examines the determinants and the substantive content of racial socialization strategies among African Americans. Existing studies have established that most Black parents socialize their children to race. However, studies have yet to determine whether assimilation trajectories and commitments to Black social heritage influence racial socialization outcomes. This article addresses this void within the context of a new, assimilation-based theory of adult Black identity—the investment in Blackness hypothesis . Findings from a national probability sample of African Americans suggest that there is a relationship between degree of assimilation into the mainstream and racial socialization strategies among parents. The implications of these findings are discussed, as well as suggestions for future research.

Get Up, Get Out, and Git Sumthin’: How Race and Class Influence African Americans’ Attitudes About Inequality

Does class position influence Blacks’ beliefs about the causes of poverty and racial inequality? Prior research has established that Blacks are more structural in orientation than Whites. However, existing studies have not adequately assessed the role that class position plays in shaping intraracial attitudinal differences among Blacks. Both multivariate and trend analyses of nearly four decades of data from the Houston Area Survey indicate that privileged Blacks often sharply differ from disadvantaged Blacks and privileged Whites across a range of racially specific and racially neutral individualistic and structural attributions. The results of this study directly concern ideological tensions within the Black community over whether racism and/or personal merit most strongly influences a Black person’s prospects for success.

A DREAM DEFERRED?: Privileged Blacks’ and Whites’ Beliefs about Racial Inequality

The goal of this paper is to determine whether a privileged class position operates similarly in shaping Blacks’ and Whites’ beliefs about the causes of racial inequality. Existing studies have established that socioeconomic variation drives intraracial differences in commitments to individualistic and structural attributions. However, scholars have yet to determine whether Blacks and Whites positioned at some of the highest levels of the American class structure report corresponding beliefs about the roots of racial disparities. Pooled data from the 1985–2012 General Social Surveys indicate that class-based attitudinal differences are more prevalent and pronounced among Whites rather than Blacks. However, a privileged class position often operates similarly in shaping commitments to select structural attributions. The implications of the findings are discussed, and suggestions for future research are offered.

E Pluribus Unum? How Racial, Ethnic, and Religious Group Memberships Impact Beliefs about American National Identity

Existing studies assess attitudes about Americanness within the context of racial and ethnic group differences. However, this paper examines the relative effects of racial, ethnic, and religious group memberships across a variety of national sentiments, including patriotism and ethnoculturalism. Results from the 1996 and 2004 General Social Surveys (N = 1851) indicate that subgroup affiliations strongly influence beliefs about the salience and substance of American national identity. The implications for the complexity of the findings are discussed, as well as suggestions for future research.

Race, Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic Inequality Among Minority Middle Classes

Offered is a discussion of major trends in sociological research on stratification among minority middle classes and a review/synopsis of pieces in this volume of The American Behavioral Scientist.