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Black Asset Poverty and the Enduring Racial Divide

Lori Latrice Martin
Black Asset Poverty and the Enduring Racial Divide
ISBN: 978-1-935049-53-1
$72.00
ISBN: 978-1-935049-95-1
$72.00
2012/239 pages/LC: 2012038617
A FirstForumPress Book
"[A] valuable addition to the racial equality discourse.... [Martin's] approach yields much needed detailing to broader structural and macro processes."—Thomas M. Shapiro, Contemporary Sociology

"A must read for undergraduate and graduate-level students of sociology, economics, and political science as well as faculty members and other professionals who study racial inequality in the contemporary US. Essential."—Choice

"An important and illuminating book about an inexplicably ignored topic."—Charles Awasu, Nyack College

"A great resource. . . . Martin provides insights into the many historical and structural factors that have kept African Americans from moving ahead economically."—Cedric Herring, University of Illinois at Chicago

DESCRIPTION

Choice Outstanding Academic Book!

Claims of a postracial society notwithstanding, there are enormous and even expanding differences in the level of assets owned by various racial and ethnic groups—and black families are vastly overrepresented among the asset poor. Lori Martin provides an in-depth exploration of the causes and consequences of racial wealth inequality.

Drawing on both national data and case studies from New York City, Martin probes the reasons for discrepancies in wealth accumulation and their significance for black Americans of all economic classes. Her work allows a deeper understanding of the impact of asset poverty on individuals, families, communities, and the nation as a whole.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lori Latrice Martin is associate professor of sociology and African and American Studies at Louisiana State University.

CONTENTS

  • Exploring Asset Poverty.
  • Financial Inequality in a "Postracial" Society.
  • Historical Perspectives.
  • The Splintering of Black America
  • US Recession, Black Depression.
  • Transcendent Elites: Losing Ground.
  • Mainstream Middle Class: Missing in Action.
  • The Myth of the Black Immigrant Advantage.
  • Income Rich, Asset Poor.
  • Toward a Radical Reconstruction.