The Black Middle-class Marriage Paradox: At the Intersection of Race, Upward Mobility, and Gender
Marriage is one of the most widely participated in and deeply gendered institutions in the world. Over time, American marriage has also become increasingly classed—selecting on those who are socioeconomically stable and college educated—and racialized—with Black Americans being the least likely group to ever marry. Racial disparities in marriage entry also persist across class status to pattern the marriage formation experiences of the Black middle-class. Different from other race/ethnic groups, Black Americans have experienced intergenerational upward mobility alongside declines in marriage entry. Despite their attractiveness on the marriage market, members of the Black middle-class are more likely than any other middle-class group to be single and living alone. This evidences a notable racial paradox in experiences of upward mobility, which has thus far been gravely undertheorized. To address this gap in sociological understanding, my dissertation utilized narrative data to examine how members of the Black middle-class construct marriage-related ideologies, ideals, and expectations. To this end, I conducted interviews with 92 never-married Black college-educated men (n=42) and women (n=50). The findings that emerged from the data are organized in three chapters. In each chapter, I describe different aspects of how race, gender, and class—specifically processes related to upward mobility—intersect to frame the paradoxical marriage formation experiences of the Black middle-class. Overall, analysis revealed gender ideologies and expectations as integral factors shaping how marriage formation processes unfold among Black middle-class young adults. Black middle-class ideologies of masculinity and femininity also relate to one another in ways that impact how they engage dating, partnering, and marriage, if at all. Given that respondents encounter gender-related challenges when attempting to date and form relationships, future research should focus less on marriage as an outcome and more on marriage formation as a social and gendered process. I conclude by arguing that for Black middle-class Americans, marriage-related cultural ideologies are constructed both similarly and differently across gender lines in ways that potentially frustrate marriage entry long before marriage is being considered.
Race, Gender, Class, Marriage/Family, Upward Mobility
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