Racism and the mechanisms maintaining racial stratification in 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. For the current commentary, I begin with a straightforward question: why are scholars still grappling with the role of White supremacy in family science? To address this question, I contend that family science needs a more nuanced theoretical perspective on Black families that adequately addresses the association between racism and race. I offer a novel conceptual model for the study of Black family inequality. I take racism and the social construction of race seriously by focusing on the making, the maintenance, and the manifestation of racial stratification. My hope is that family scholars will employ theoretical frameworks that center racism and highlight the social construction of race.