Book contents
- The Love Jones Cohort
- Cambridge Studies in Stratification Economics: Economics and Social Identity
- The Love Jones Cohort
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Introducing the Members of the Love Jones Cohort
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Scholarly Debates on Defining the Black Middle Class
- 2 How the Love Jones Cohort Defines the Black Middle Class
- 3 The Love Jones Cohort and Black Middle-Class Identity
- 4 The Rise of Never-Married Black Singles
- 5 Choice, Circumstance, or Both?
- 6 Lifestyle Ebbs and Flows
- 7 Intergenerational Mobility and Disseminating Wealth
- 8 Homeownership and the Accumulation of Wealth
- 9 Neighborhood Decisions and Interactions
- 10 Health, Mental Well-Being, and Coping Strategies
- Conclusion
- Afterword
- Book part
- References
- Index
1 - Scholarly Debates on Defining the Black Middle Class
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2023
- The Love Jones Cohort
- Cambridge Studies in Stratification Economics: Economics and Social Identity
- The Love Jones Cohort
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Introducing the Members of the Love Jones Cohort
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Scholarly Debates on Defining the Black Middle Class
- 2 How the Love Jones Cohort Defines the Black Middle Class
- 3 The Love Jones Cohort and Black Middle-Class Identity
- 4 The Rise of Never-Married Black Singles
- 5 Choice, Circumstance, or Both?
- 6 Lifestyle Ebbs and Flows
- 7 Intergenerational Mobility and Disseminating Wealth
- 8 Homeownership and the Accumulation of Wealth
- 9 Neighborhood Decisions and Interactions
- 10 Health, Mental Well-Being, and Coping Strategies
- Conclusion
- Afterword
- Book part
- References
- Index
Summary
Chapter 1 engages the scholarly debates, discussions, and controversies surrounding how the Black middle class is defined. Chapter 1 paints the context for many of the key topics addressed by the Cohort in subsequent chapters related to how they view their middle-class status and how their class status interacts with their SALA lifestyle. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the distinction between class and status and discusses the range of scholarly and historical definitions and conceptualizations of the Black middle class over the past 120 years. Such debates raise pertinent questions on how class should be captured; if status is a more useful measure than class; whether Black middle classness should be defined separately from other middle classness; and, if so, why. Chapter 1 investigates issues surrounding gender and the role of marriage in perpetuating (or otherwise) the Black middle class and is highly relevant to the rise of the Love Jones Cohort where a substantial majority of its members are Black women.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Love Jones CohortSingle and Living Alone in the Black Middle Class, pp. 17 - 30Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023