Ch 25: Race, Homeownership & Wealth, Shapiro-COMBINED SET
Urban Renewal
"A handy device for razing slums" Destroyed entire nonwhite communities Forced millions to lose their homes Packed people into other slums First time in U.S. history that "the government was given the right to seize an individual's property not for its own use but for reassignment to another individual for his use and profit"
What does Shapiro mean by the statement that "More than any other economic attribute, wealth represents the sedimentation of historical inequalities in the American experience, in a sense the accumulation of advantages and disadvantages for different racial, class and ethic groups
"In this way, wealth provides a window to explore how our past influences the realities of today"
BUYING GROCERIES: (Example of what?)
(INCOME)
EARNINGS FROM DISABILITY: (Example of what?)
(INCOME)
PAYING UTILITY BILLS: (Example of what?)
(INCOME)
PENSION: (Example of what?)
(INCOME)
RECEIVING SOCIAL ASSISTANCE (FOOD STAMPS): (Example of what?)
(INCOME)
RECIEVING UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE: (Example of what?)
(INCOME)
WAGES: (Example of what?)
(INCOME)
DEALING WITH HEALTH CRISIS: (Example of what?)
(WEALTH)
DEALING WITH JOB TERMINATION: (Example of what?)
(WEALTH)
DEALING WITH LEGAL DIFFICULTY: (Example of what?)
(WEALTH)
What role does the government play in wealth accumulation & racial segregation through home ownership?
- A series of FEDERAL POLICIES that started in the 1930's. - MADE this high home ownership rate and subsequent MIDDLE-CLASS WEALTH ACCUMULATION possible. - CREATED a government-sponsored market. - Federal policies HELPED CREATE a mortgage market where homes could be purchased with long-term, low-interest loans and relatively small down payments.
CONCEPTUAL:
- Distinction between income & assets. - Income represents the flow of resources earned in a particular time period, such as a week, month, or year. - Assets are a stock of resources that are saved, or invested. - INCOME: is mainly used for day-to-day necessities. - ASSETS: are special monies & security for present and future generations.
How do INCOME, EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT, & EMPLOYMENT GAP compare with WEALTH GAP?
- INCOME, EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT, & EMPLOYMENT GAPS among Hispanics, African-Americans, and whites REMAIN STEADY or show some slight narrowing. - The WEALTH GAP is INCREASING.
Causes of SHORT-TERM unemployment:
- In between jobs. - Work for shorter period.
INCOME:
- Includes earnings from work, or it's substitutes, like pensions, disability, unemployment insurance, or social assistance. - Earnings or payments that replaces earnings.
How does WEALTH among AFRICAN-AMERICANS compare with wealth owned by the WHITE MIDDLE CLASS?
- NET WORTH of a typical WHITE FAMILES is $81,000, COMPARED to $8,000 for BLACK FAMILIES. - Typical WHITE FAMILY'S WEALTH is more that $73,000 GREATER THAN the typical BLACK FAMILY's. - Is a MARKER of the RACIAL WEALTH GAP expressed in dollars. -The baseline racial wealth gap also SHOWS that BLACK FAMILY'S own only a dime of wealth for every dollar owned by -(LESS THAN)- WHITE FAMILIES.
On which explanation of WEALTH ACCUMULATION is SHAPIRO basing his argument?
- Not income, but wealth accounts for racial inequality. - Home equity low in non-white areas. - Historical wealth accumulation/access to credit. - WHITES give INHERITANCE/assistance to down payments. - Larger up-front payments, lower costs of borrowing.
INSTITUTIONAL wealth accumulation:
- Places GREATER VALUE on INHERITANCE, programs, and practices. - HOMEOWNERSHIP & HOUSING APPRECIATION is the foundation of INSTITUTIONAL ACCUMULATION. - NOT SIMPLY about individual HARD WORK, discipline, and savings.
Describe IMPACT that rise in SUBPRIME LENDING had on INCREASING racial wealth gap in the U.S.?
- Targeted to prospective homebuyers with blemished credit histories, or with high levels of debt, who otherwise would not qualify for conventional mortgage loans. - SUBPRIME prepayment PENALTIES INCREASE the risk of mortgage foreclosure. - KEY FINDING: subprime home loans with extended penalties faced 20% greater odds of enter foreclosure than loans without prepayment penalties. -Subprime LOANS in MINORITY communities INCREASED with levels of RACIAL SEGREGATION. - DESTRUCTIVE EFFECTS on African-American families & communities. - America is experiencing a new form of redlining organized by race & geographic space.
QUALITATIVE:
- To what extent is there asset parity between blacks & whites? - Do blacks have access to resources that they can use to plan for future, pay kids education? - Inequality of wealth. - "Sine qua non" (indicator of material well-being).
WEALTH:
- Total value of a family's financial resources minus all debts. - Ownership & control of money. - "Net value of assets"
INDIVIDUAL wealth accumulation:
- Wealth emerges from HARD WORK, disciplined consumption, savings, and WISE INVESTMENTS, with some perhaps some luck thrown in. - Wealth BUILDS SLOWLY during ones lifetime. - Wealth is LIFESTYLE SENSITIVE. - Wealth accumulates mostly during the latter working years. - Utilized most in retirement. - EMPHASIZES the ACQUISITION, accrual, and depletion of wealth over a lifetime .
What does Shapiro mean by "More than any other economic attribute, wealth represents the sedimentation of historic inequalities in the American Experience, in a sense the accumulation of advantages & disadvantages for different racial class & ethnic groups?
- Wealth provides a window to explore how our past influences the realities of today.
Causes of LONG-TERM unemployment:
- Work for Longer period. - Institutions offer a way to get out.
List three reasons that according to Shapiro explain why homeownership gap persists and is exacerbating racial wealth gap
-Financial institutions reject AA for home mortgages at considerably higher raters (about 60% rejection rate) even though white and black families have are equally creditworthy. -blacks approved for home mortgages often pay higher interest rates on home loans. Blacks pay interest rates of approximately one third of a percent higher than whites, or about $12,000 more for the average American home over a 30-year mortgage.Part of this is due to the greater ability of white families to provide larger down payments and even to pay higher service fees for lowered interest rates. -Homes have appreciated in value in most communities and in most areas of the country, except for in poor, minority, urban neighborhoods
wealth
-dealing with job termination -dealing with health crisis -dealing with legal difficulty
income
-paying utility bills -receiving unemployment insurance -buying groceries -pension -receiving social assistance (food stamps) -earnings from disability -wages
Describe institutional
-places greater value on inheritance, programs and practice -homeownership and housing appreciation
Describe individual
-wealth builds slowly during one's lifetime and is life-cycle sensitive. -acquisition, accrual and depletion in a lifetime
What are the 3 REASONS that EXPLAIN WHY homeownership gap persists & exacerbating racial wealth gap?
1) - Financial Institutions reject African-Americans for home mortgages at considerably higher rates. - About 60% HIGHER REJECTION rate- than whites, even WHEN CREDITWORTHY. 2) - BLACKS APPROVED for home mortgages often PAY HIGHER INTEREST rates on home loans. - Approximately 1/3 of a percent HIGHER than whites. - DUE largely to WHITES ability to provide LARGER DOWN PAYMENTS. 3) - RESIDENTIAL SEGREGTION meets HOUSING APPRECIATION. - Homes have appreciated in value in most communities & in most areas of the country, EXCEPT in POOR, MINORITY, urban NEIGHBORHOODS. - LOCATION, location, location...
What are the 2 types of differences between wealth & income?
1) Conceptual (purpose of use) 2) Qualitative (extent of racial asset (in)equality)
What are the 2 most important FACTORS that explain RACIAL WEALTH?
1) Homeownership. 2) Housing Appreciation.
What are the 2 explanations of wealth accumulation of Americans?
1) Individual 2) Institutional
Industrial Restructuring
1960s-1970s Manufacturing decreased as importation became more profitable and some manufacturing moved to other countries. Service jobs increased. Since the 1970s There were fewer jobs for unskilled workers but increasing opportunities for skilled and educated workers.
How does wealth among African-Americans compare with wealth owned by the white middle class?
A typical white family's wealth is more that $73,000 greater than the typical black family's
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
Abolished national origins quotas
When Affirmative Action Became Controversial
Affirmative action is not new. What is new is that it is affirmative action for nonwhites and women. Affirmative action became controversial in 1963, when President Kennedy issued Executive Order 10925.
1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act consequences
Altered scope and composition of immigration Asian and Latin American immigration especially pronounced Changed the face of American society
The Role of Housing Discrimination
Although outlawed since 1968, housing discrimination persists. Banks and loan companies reject nonwhites 56 percent more often than identical whites. Realtors use false information and steering. An audit study by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) showed that Hispanics and blacks looking for housing face discrimination in 50 percent of their interactions with realtors and landlords. Native Americans faced such discrimination in 30 percent of their interactions; Asians, in 20 percent.
The Racialization of Neighborhoods
America is more racially segregated today than at the conclusion of the Civil War. Segregation levels in major cities during the nineteenth century were less than half of what they are today. -Beginning of the twentieth century: majority of blacks in northern cities lived in majority-white neighborhoods -End of the twentieth century: majority of blacks lived in majority-black neighborhoods. 1890: the average black person living in Milwaukee resided in a neighborhood that was 1 percent black Today: the average black person in Milwaukee resides in a neighborhood that is over 70 percent black During the twentieth century, prosperous European immigrants were able to move out of the slums and assimilate into the white American mainstream. However, people who wore the "racial uniform" could not do so. By the 1920s, many neighborhoods based on close-knit ethnic affiliations were giving way to urban divisions based on race and class.
Environmental Racism
Any environmental policy, practice, or directive that disproportionately affects nonwhite communities Includes radioactive dumping, incinerators, erosive mining, clear-cutting, and dangerous air emissions Black and Latino neighborhoods far more likely to have environmental hazards than white ones Three out of five blacks live in areas with toxic waste dumps; 46 percent of public housing units are within a one-mile radius of factories emitting toxic gases Native American reservations are particularly vulnerable, since state dumping laws do not apply Skull Valley example
Post-World War II
As women and nonwhites entered manufacturing jobs, the Taft-Hartley Act diminished the power of unions. Nonwhites often were denied military enlistment until the final throes of war, excluding them from the GI Bill of Rights.
Black Poverty
Black ghetto Historical origins in the Great Migration Concentrated poverty: 40 percent of blacks live in extremely impoverished areas Pandemic unemployment Explanations Residential segregation; housing policies Brain drain, leaving behind "the truly disadvantaged" Spatial mismatch thesis
Numbers Differ: Gender, Race, and Educational Attainment
Black women are at a higher risk of unemployment White women's wages rose more than black women's because white women gained well-compensated work
Does Affirmative Action Hurt White Men?
By some accounts, white women have been the biggest beneficiaries of affirmative action. According to one poll, 40 percent of Americans believe that whites being disadvantaged by affirmative action at work is a bigger problem than blacks being disadvantaged by race-based discrimination. But the evidence suggests these fears are not justified.
Structural Causes of Poverty
Capitalism produces a pool of unemployed laborers due to outsourcing, downsizing, and layoffs. With deindustrialization, mid-level jobs have all but disappeared, resulting in an hourglass-shaped economy. One-third of breadwinners of American families make less than $10 an hour. The United States devotes a smaller percentage of its wealth to antipoverty programs than any other developed country except Japan.
The Suburbs
Cul de sac communities promote isolation. Gated communities promote safety with walls, security guards, and surveillance. These neighborhoods are home to 8 million Americans.
Housing Discrimination and Gender
Discrimination in housing is especially harsh for women of color. Women are often denied loans or pay higher rents. Women are often sexually harassed by landlords or men in positions of authority. Survivors of domestic abuse may be denied housing or evicted.
Incarceration and Joblessness
Disproportionately high rates of imprisonment impact labor participation as faced by the men and their families in the African American community. This results in low wages, stigma when returning to the workforce, and less earnings. Black men's post-prison earnings grew 21% slower than white men's earnings.
What Is Affirmative Action?
Does not allow quotas or hiring of unqualified applicants Federal mandates apply only to companies that conduct a fair amount of business with the federal government—about 3 percent of U.S. firms (employing about 20 percent of the country's workforce). 71 percent voluntarily have some type of plan.
The Consequences of Segregation
Economic Mortgages with inflated interest rates and high monthly payments for homes with lower property values Proximity to well-paying jobs, successful networks Address used as proxy for race in job applications Living Conditions Old, dilapidated housing, often infected with rats and bugs; leaky; cold Far away from normal institutions like hospitals, grocery stores, banks, and similar facilities Higher crime rates Educational Property values determine property taxes. Roughly half of all property tax revenue is used for public elementary and secondary education. Thus, low-income areas have much smaller education budgets. As a result, schooling erodes. For many students, schooling becomes of less concern than staying safe and making ends meet.
What Causes Racial Segregation?
Economic factors There are class-based inequalities. However, in northern cities, blacks who make over $50,000 are just as segregated as those making minimum wage. Personal choice A survey of Milwaukee residents claimed that "people of different races choose to live in communities with people of their own race." However, the Detroit Area Survey shows otherwise.
Nonwhite unemployment rate is consistently double that of whites. Audit studies show:
Employers are three to four times more likely to offer whites a job than equally qualified blacks or Hispanics. Applicants with white-sounding names are 50 percent more likely to be called for an interview than applicants with black-sounding names. Whites convicted of selling drugs are more likely to land a job than blacks with no criminal history.
Employment-population ratio
Estimates the probability that a person of working age is employed, factoring in those who are not looking for work. It takes into account that some people stay at home, are unable to work due to disability, go to school, or are retired.
Rural America
Farming areas, small towns, and Indian reservations are just as racially segregated as urban areas. Colonias Between 1990 and 2000, the number of migrant workers from Mexico nearly doubled. They settled in colonias, neighborhoods with low-cost housing (shacks) that lack social services, medicine, and potable water. Towns along the 2,000-mile-long border are among poorest in nation.
Attempts at Fixes to Labor Inequality on a Structural Level
Forms of Affirmative Action: Government orders for government contractors and subcontractors Regulations requiring affirmation action by public employers Court orders based on anti-discrimination law Employers' voluntary human resources policies
Individual Factors
Human capital differences in qualifications such as how much schooling completed, skill sets, and experience. This can explain a large part of labor inequalities but not all of it.
Racial Privilege Shapes Economic Privilege
If we look at third-generation immigrants: -Asian poverty decreases. -White and Hispanic poverty stays the same. -But black poverty increases by 26 percent (they're poorer than their grandparents who immigrated from the Caribbean or Africa).
Earning and Labor Market Inequality Represents a Large Gap
In 2013, the United States had more income inequality than Mexico. Inequality is mapped on race and gender lines. Income inequality among Americans has increased in large part due to tremendous growth in the incomes of the highest earners and stagnation or decline in the incomes of the lowest earners.
The Value of Inconvenient Facts
In a recent poll, 50 percent of whites thought that the average black American is as financially well off as the average white American. Affirmative action doesn't threaten meritocracy; it strives to build the meritocracy we think we have. Affirmative action replaces a system rife with race and gender biases with a system that rewards skills, abilities, and education.
Power and Privilege in the Workplace
In middle-class occupations, blacks are twice as likely to be laid off as whites. Whites are twice as likely to hold positions of authority as blacks or Latinos. All women are less likely to hold position of power, but women of color experience greater disadvantages. Women and nonwhites experience glass ceilings. There are unspoken obstacles. Homosocial reproduction keeps the glass ceilings in place.
Which GAP is DECREASING?
Income, Educational Achievement, & Employment Gap.
On which explanation Shapiro is basing his argument?
Institutional Wealth
Does Affirmative Action Help Those It Was Intended to Help?
It increases employment for both women and nonwhite men. It benefits disadvantaged communities, not just individuals. Some criticize affirmative action for causing a stigma of self-doubt or a stigma assigned by others. However, over 90 percent of women and 75 percent of blacks feel it has not played a role in their employment.
The End of Industrialization
Manufacturing jobs disappeared from the Northeast and Midwest in the 1980s. Factories gave way to a service economy. This was particularly challenging for blacks and Puerto Ricans.
Is Affirmative Action an Affront to the American Ideal of Meritocracy?
Meritocracy is the notion that one succeeds only on the basis of one's own abilities. Three questionable assumptions about the United States as a meritocracy: People get ahead only by virtue of talents, skills, and a work ethic. The wealthy do not benefit unduly (but think of legacy preferences for college admissions). Employment practices without affirmative action are more merit based.
Migration and Urbanization
Mexicans Many moved north for agricultural and manufacturing jobs. Whites blamed them for Depression Era unemployment. By the end of 1930s, 2 million had been repatriated to Mexico. More than half were U.S. citizens. Over one-third of all U.S. Mexicans were repatriated. Native Americans Many tribes were terminated between 1953 and 1973. By 1990, more than 60 percent had been relocated to cities Blacks A great migration occurred from the rural South to the urban North. Between 1910 and 1960, over 4.5 million blacks migrated north. Blacks were exploited as a cheap and expendable labor force. They were cordoned off to restricted urban districts. Rundown urban neighborhoods became overcrowded. Districts were filled with crime, disease, and poverty. Blacks were kept a safe distance from the surrounding white population. "The south doesn't care how close a Negro gets just so he doesn't get too high; the north doesn't care how high a Negro gets just so he doesn't get too close."
Origins of the Ghetto
Most housing was built for whites during the 1930s-1940s, creating housing shortages. The Federal Housing Administration denied loans to many nonwhites. Real estate brokers refused to show designated areas to nonwhites. Real estate lenders used redlining to refuse loans and mortgages in nonwhite neighborhoods. White home sellers left covenants in deeds. Slumlords made money by ignoring housing repairs and occupancy codes and by charging inflated rents. In 1960, the median rent payment was $64 for whites and $76 for blacks. Ghettos reinforced racial inequality. They served as convincing evidence to white homeowners that blacks would ruin their neighborhoods. They justified further disinvestment in black neighborhoods.
Spatial Mismatch
New jobs in suburbs Urban workers with money and skills followed The poor (mostly minorities) stayed behind
Segmented Assimilation
No monolithic "immigrant experience" Three common pathways -Acculturation and parallel integration into the white middle class -Descent into poverty and assimilation into the underclass -Economic advancement with deliberate preservation of the immigrant community's values and solidarity
The 1968 Fair Housing Act
Passed after King assassination; last of the four great Civil Rights Acts Outlawed refusal to sell or rent a dwelling on account of race or color Outlawed racial discrimination in terms or conditions of sale or rental of home Outlawed indication of racial preference in advertising of dwelling sale or rental Weak in enforcement, which was bargained away to secure passage
The Black Power Movement
People keep calling it a riot. . . . But we call it a revolt because it had a legitimate purpose. It was a response to police brutality and social exploitation of a community and of a people." Racial uprisings directly resulted in policies aimed at improving conditions in the ghetto. Welfare payments Low-income housing subsidies Job programs Summer programs for young people (often referred to as "riot insurance") They also resulted in increased police repression in the black community.
"Cadillac-Driving Welfare Queens"
Policy makers and media evoke racially coded language to "blacken" welfare discourse. In a large social survey, 59 percent of whites polled thought blacks would rather collect welfare than work. In the same survey, 46 percent thought this about Latinos, 18 percent about Asians, and only 3 percent about whites.
1980 Refugee Act
Political asylum for refugees and asylees victimized on the basis of their race, religion, nationality, political affiliation, or group membership
Rural White America
Poor, rural white communities face many of the same problems as poor nonwhite communities. Environmental devastation Isolation from economic opportunities Inadequate housing Trailer parks and the "blemish of place" Stereotyped as backward, intolerant, or racist (they haven't adopted ways of hiding their views behind coded language) Neglect by government leaders
The New Deal
President Franklin Roosevelt responded to the Great Depression with the New Deal. Southern Democrats forced northern Democrats into a devil's bargain. Many nonwhites were denied benefits because their occupation (e.g., farmworker, maid) was not covered by the New Deal.
Clinton's "welfare reform" in 1996
Promised to "end welfare as we know it" Cut Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), replaced it with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Are families better off? Strict restrictions on time for which one can receive welfare Single mothers pushed into the ranks of the working poor Lost medical benefits and housing subsidies Struggles with child care, transportation, and food
Interracial Conflict
Racial domination can distort and hide the real causes of poverty and misery under false arguments that attribute those causes to certain dominated groups. Example: black resentment of Koreans Koreans fill the niche of shopkeepers and entrepreneurs in many black communities. Blacks feel mistreated or disrespected by Koreans. However, poor neighborhoods are the best places where Koreans can afford to live and do business without corporate competition.
Urban Unrest
Racial segregation and degradation continued. In the mid-1960s, some neighborhoods exploded. After Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK), was assassinated, in 1968, there were uprisings all over the nation. Frequent targets were white-owned businesses that had mistreated or refused to hire blacks.
Explaining Labor Inequalities
Scholars use two characteristics to explain labor inequality: Individual—factors associated with the person Structural—factors associated with the labor market
Racial Income Disparities
Segregated labor force; wages lower in majority-nonwhite jobs than in majority-white jobs influx of nonwhites into certain sectors of the labor market pulls down both wages and status
Unemployment
Since 1970, the unemployment rate for blacks has been about twice that for whites. The unemployment rate always indicates the number of people actively looking for a job.
Ethnic Enclaves
Spatial assimilation thesis: enclaves are a starting point on the way to economic and cultural assimilation. Ethnic community thesis: some individuals prefer to live among people who eat the same food, celebrate the same holidays, and speak the same language they do. Racial segregation: enclaves are a result of ethnic and racial discrimination in housing.
Split Labor Market for local structural factors
Split Labor Market —this refers to how different racial groups would be paid a different wage, with the people of color being paid the lesser wages. Historically, the labor of white workers would also be protected by unions, while people of color would not be protected.
Describe the impact that the rise in subprime lending had on increasing racial wealth gap in the US.
Subprime lending- is targeted to prospective homebuyers with blemished credit histories or with high levels of debt who otherwise would not qualify for conventional mortgage loans. - subprime loans in minority commutes increased with levels of racial segregation
Long term unemployment
That's 21% of the unemployed who have been looking for work for six months or more. The chart below illustrates the divisions between unemployed workers based on length of unemployment, ranging from the year 2000 to 2019.
Unemployment rate:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts people as unemployed when they do not have a job and have actively looked for work in the previous month.
The GI Bill of Rights
The United States spent $95 billion in social benefits. Veterans bought homes, financed businesses, bought farmland, and went to college. This helped to fuel the postwar boom in higher education and suburbanization. B ut the distribution of benefits—loans, job placement, unemployment assistance, college tuition aid, vocational training, and mortgages for the new suburban homes—was left to (white) state and local authorities. FORGED THE MIDDLE CLASS
The Split Labor Market
The business elite employs racial domination. It pits one group against another. This thwarts interracial worker solidarity. It keeps the price of labor low, causing worker exploitation. Racial antagonism disadvantages all workers. The split labor market can cause interpersonal racism.
What Determines How Immigrants Will Fare?
The current structure of the U.S. economy The class privileges that different immigrants bring with them The existence of ethnic enclaves with semiautonomous economies The racial privileges that different immigrants bring with them
The Detroit Area Survey
The majority of blacks said the ideal neighborhood is one with 50 percent black and 50 percent white residents. But 84 percent of whites said they would not enter a neighborhood that was 50 percent black and 50 percent white (blacks' ideal neighborhood). A quarter of whites said that a single black neighbor would make them uncomfortable.
Earnings Gap and Wage Gap
The middle number of the range of earnings of blacks is less than the middle number in the range of earnings for whites not taking into account hours worked. This earnings gap has been consistent through U.S. history. The wage gap refers to the separation in the earnings of hourly wages.
Ways to Measure Joblessness
The unemployment rate does not include all the people who are without jobs. A variety of other indicators provide a fuller picture of joblessness across race and ethnicity: Jobless rate Employment population ratio Under-employment
Native American poverty and affluence
There is an elite group of tribes who have succeeded through casinos and antipoverty programs. But Native American unemployment on the reservations is around 50 percent. Their poverty rate is almost twice the national average. The best way to overcome reservation poverty is not through the quick fix of gaming but through tribal sovereignty.
Structural Factors
These are factors related to how the economy functions during a specific period of time and impacts the available jobs: Deindustrialization—this term describes how the economy shifted from making products (manufacturing) to low pay service-oriented jobs that provide less steady work. The manufacturing work shifted to overseas locations or became roboticized.
Underemployment
This covers a wide range of circumstances: 1. Those looking for job prospects. 2. People who work part-time, but prefer full-time work. 3. Those who have looked for work at some point during the year, but have currently stopped. In 2013, 19 percent of Latino workers and 22 percent of black workers met this definition of underemployed, compared with 12 percent of white workers
Attempts at Fixes to Labor Inequality on a Structural Level pt 2
Those businesses who get government contracts are required to follow affirmative action planning. Many companies follow affirmative action plans in their companies. The 1972 Equal Opportunity Act established that companies found guilty of discrimination must put into place an affirmative action plan.
Who's on Welfare?
Two-thirds of all Americans collect public assistance(such as food stamps, TANF, and Medicaid) at some point in their lives. 63 percent of them receiving Medicaid, 52 percent food stamps, and 13 percent cash assistance
Residential Segregation
U.S. neighborhoods—especially in midwestern and eastern cities—are severely segregated along the color line. Most Americans live in racially segregated neighborhoods. Racial segregation can be measured by the degree to which certain groups are distributed throughout the city. Whites are more likely than nonwhites to live in segregated neighborhoods.
Which GAP is INCREASING?
Wealth Gap.
Which GAP when compared with each other is WIDEST?
Wealth Gap.
Wealth Inequality
Wealth accumulates over the generations. This reflects past as well as present-day discrimination. Well-off blacks possess about the same wealth as poor whites. Today white families are, on average, six times more wealthy than black and Hispanic families.
Which type of inequality- constitutes a key in understanding persistence of racial inequality in a post-civil rights era in which minorities have made remarkable advances?
Wealth.
Why Is American Welfare the Size It Is?
When antipoverty spending became entwined with antiracism movements, whites turned away from the Democratic Party. White backlash against integration brought resistance to fair housing policies and public spending. Welfare spending has been cut continuously since President Johnson's "War on Poverty" in the mid-1960s.
White Flight
Whites moved out to the suburbs beginning in the 1950s. Federal programs encouraged suburbanization. White flight increased with deindustrialization and with the Civil Rights Movement. In 1940, only one-third of metropolitan residents lived in suburbs; by 1970, the majority of them did. Meanwhile, the poorest of the poor were left behind in the cities.
Environmental Racism cont.
Who benefits from environmental racism? Companies that profit from creating pollution or from disposing of it Corrupt politicians interested in funding their campaigns If you are privileged enough to live in an area without extreme environmental hazards, then you benefit
Shapiro is claiming that racial wealth gap is a result of:
a. Differences in work ethics of individuals, their discipline in consumption, savings, and wise investments. b. State policies and institutional practices such as government sponsored housing market, tax deduction on home mortgages, banking GI Bill and others. ******* c. Unregulated and free housing market in the country. d. Persistence of legal discrimination and segregation of minorities in the country.
Shapiro argues that _____ inequality is the key in understanding persistence of racial inequality in a post-civil rights era in which minorities have made remarkable advances.
a. Educational b. Income c. Occupational d. Wealth ************ e. Life Expectance
Shapiro in his article, "Race, Homeownership and Wealth" argues that "White ______ represents the flow of resources earned in a particular time period such as week, month, year, ______ are a stock of resources that are saved or invested ."
a. Wealth AND income b. Income AND wealth ********* c. Status AND wealth d. Income AND education
if there is a gap between race and access to wealth and income how does it affect them
access to houses, cars,
short-term unemployment
any unemployment period that lasts less than 27 weeks. The unemployment period is temporary and often includes the time needed to switch from one job to another.
what jobs were surprising
athlete-21=vg 19-hardly any banker/accountant-16% VG, 21%-considerable, 43- 18% no prestige there is not agreement
functionalism-social class
benefit of having ppl in social classes-encouragement to people- lower class strive to become upper class. in turn upper class try to stay there. social class is good because person to move up and upper class and upper class are doing things that are more important then lower class
wealth and income how are these similar
both about money
subjective measure of social class
cant assign a specific number-- occupational prestige
Shapiro argues that there are two types of differences between wealth and income
conceptual- purposes of use qualitative- extent of racial asset (in)equality
symbolic interaction- social class
different symbols and how people interact around that symbol. *learn how to interact in a social class. food- upper- caviar, foie gras, wagyu beef, lobster, steaks (expensive). ramen, mcdonalds- cheap. sports-football, lacrosse, soccer, golf, tennis, olympians
very great prestige figures
fire fighter-62% Dr-56 nurse- 54 lawyer-26
theroetic perspectives
functionalism conflict theory symbolic interactionism
a scenario where someone would have high education but low income
have a bachelor degree but cant find job in field
What are 2 most important factors that explain racial wealth
homeownership and housing appreciation
what scenarios that need both wealth and income
homeownership- down payments then make payments
occupational prestige
how respectable is someone's job very- doctor, lawyer, politician low-factory, garbage men, postal worker, walmart-retail, fastfood
Define income
includes earning from work or its substitutes
How do income, educational achievement and employment gaps compare with wealth gap?
income, educational achievement and employment gaps remain steady/decreasing slowly
Disparities
income: money obtained from work, retirement, or government aid Wealth: assets that make money (stocks, bonds, savings accounts, real estate, businesses, farms, etc.)
Shapiro identifies two explanations of wealth accumulation of Americans
individual and institutional
what is race, homeownership and wealth type of research
interview- 3 diff cities talk to families and using broad statistics- IRS, suveys,
Race-based job channeling
job seekers are told to apply for a different position.
Limitations of the GI Bill
many blacks and Latinos were denied opportunities to start up new businesses, buy new homes, go to the same colleges and universities as whites, and (through job assistance) gain access to jobs that weren't for menial, unskilled workers. "Affirmative action then was white."
Postwar Industrialization
many nonwhites did benefit from the social programs and initiatives of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. many nonwhites found their way into steady, working-class jobs in America's rising manufacturing sector. The postwar years were boom times for American manufacturing.
objective measures of social class
measures that we can come up with- wealth- bank accounts, taxes, assets, property. income-check stubs, bills education-higher education equals higher social class.
Ethnic Enclave Economy
members of racialized and ethnic groups create businesses to serve their own group. In another theory, the racial enclave economy, the owner's racial group both supplies business and sets boundaries for it.
Self-employment
members of racialized and ethnic groups set out to create a job for themselves. This approach has been successful for some groups, but not other groups.
race as aspect for homeownership and wealth
not the same for blacks-
weath
pay check to pay check (toy poor- outgoing is more then coming in
conflict theory- social class
people in groups are competing for scarce resources-social class is a scarce resource. firefighters dont get paid enough, jnanitors important-- whoever is at top is the most important people
The Ghetto
set of neighborhoods that are exclusively inhabited by members of one group, within which virtually all members of that group in that particular city live The defining characteristic is advanced marginality; in other words, severe spatial and social segregation of residents, marked by their exclusion from economic prosperity, national security, collective imagination and memory, and state welfare services
Embedded market
small businesses owned by ethnoracial group members face the challenges of the market as well as additional larger social obstacles such as male domination, white supremacy, and limited financial resources; "an upper-class male Mexican may be able to open a highly profitable Italian restaurant in a wealthy neighborhood whereas a poor female Mexican may be limited to opening a taqueria in the barrio."
Define wealth
total value of a family/ financial resources minus all debts
Which type of inequality- wealth or income- according to Shapiro is now constitutes a key in understanding persistence of racial inequality in a post-civil rights era in which minorities have made remarkable advances
wealth
Which is wider? Which are increasing and which are decreasing?
wealth gap is growing and the larger
why is there a gap in white and black income and wealth
what do they have access to- slavery-where did the wealth come from?
Categorical exclusion
when a person is not given an interview due to the applicant's race.
Shifting standards
when qualifications of the position change during the job seeking process after a hirer is cognizant of a job seeker's race.
Skills mismatch hypothesis
—this explains that the skills and qualifications (such as college degrees) held by those unemployed do not match the available jobs. This can be used to explain the high jobless rate of African American men.
