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.

Racial discrimination and romantic relationship dynamics among Black Americans: A systematic review

“…Thus, findings in our review support Bonilla-Silva's (2023) observation that family scholars focus more on prejudice and attitudes and less on the racialized history and social systems that uphold the existing racial structure. For example, examining contemporary and historical spatial inequality (Williams, 2023) will further contextualize the racialized relational experiences of Black partners as they engage with external racist encounters in various spaces and places (e.g., work, the South). Efforts towards capturing the multi-faceted nature of racism may be critical to understanding differences in how Black families adapt to racist encounters as well as the potential effectiveness of different coping mechanisms and resources for responding to racial discrimination.…”

Racial disparities without racism: Some conceptual & analytical considerations

“…The structure component of racism refers to the micro-and macro-level practices that subordinate so-called inferior racialized groups (Golash-Boza, 2016). Moreover, ideologies and structures coalesce to not only make racialized groups appear to be ontologically real (Mueller, 2018;Williams, 2023) but also disproportionately benefit people racialized as White via two racialized processes (hierarchical boundaries and institutionalized barriers).…”

“…To illustrate the conceptual considerations, I first expand on Williams' (2023) theoretical model focusing on structural racism and Black family life by exclusively focusing on the link between the making of racial stratification and the manifestation of racial stratification (see Williams, 2023; Figure 1, Panels A and C). Although Williams (2023) argues that the manifestation of racial stratification reflects observable, measurable outcomes via racism, he does not mention the processes connecting the making of racial stratification with the manifestation of racial stratification. Thus, this manuscript addresses Williams' (2023) negligence by incorporating additional racialized processes (relational hierarchies and institutionalized barriers) to help explain why researchers should recast "racial disparities" as manifestations of racism.…”

“…In other words, reporting racial inequality as disparities without addressing racism is a critical omission in family science research. This oversight obscures the social construction of race (Benjamin, 2014;Fields & Fields, 2014;Smedley & Smedley, 2005;Williams, 2019), reduces race to an ahistorical demographic characteristic of the population (Williams, 2019), and produces deficit interpretations of Black families (Bryant et al, 2010;Williams, 2023). Centering racism is important because biological explanation still permeates the American imagination about racial inequality (Chatters et al, 2022;Morning, 2011;Roth et al, 2023;Soylu Yalcinkaya et al, 2017;Yaylacı et al, 2021).…”

“…This manuscript is divided into two sections: conceptual considerations and analytical considerations. To illustrate the conceptual considerations, I first expand on Williams' (2023) theoretical model focusing on structural racism and Black family life by exclusively focusing on the link between the making of racial stratification and the manifestation of racial stratification (see Williams, 2023; Figure 1, Panels A and C). Although Williams (2023) argues that the manifestation of racial stratification reflects observable, measurable outcomes via racism, he does not mention the processes connecting the making of racial stratification with the manifestation of racial stratification.…”