Income Inequality and the Persistence of Racial Economic Disparities

More than 50 years after the Civil Rights Act, black–white family income disparities in the United States remain almost exactly the same as what they were in 1968. This article argues that a key and underappreciated driver of the racial income gap has been the national trend of rising income inequal...

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Main Author: Robert Manduca
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Society for Sociological Science 2018-03-01
Series:Sociological Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.sociologicalscience.com/articles-v5-8-182/
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author Robert Manduca
author_facet Robert Manduca
author_sort Robert Manduca
collection DOAJ
description More than 50 years after the Civil Rights Act, black–white family income disparities in the United States remain almost exactly the same as what they were in 1968. This article argues that a key and underappreciated driver of the racial income gap has been the national trend of rising income inequality. From 1968 to 2016, black–white disparities in family income rank narrowed by almost one-third. But this relative gain was negated by changes to the national income distribution that resulted in rapid income growth for the richest—and most disproportionately white—few percentiles of the country combined with income stagnation for the poor and middle class. But for the rise in income inequality, the median black–white family income gap would have decreased by about 30 percent. Conversely, without the partial closing of the rank gap, growing inequality alone would have increased the racial income gap by 30 percent.
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spelling doaj.art-a9df57e596504f908fffd214c5ab6a8f2022-12-22T03:35:22ZengSociety for Sociological ScienceSociological Science2330-66962330-66962018-03-015818220510.15195/v5.a8Income Inequality and the Persistence of Racial Economic DisparitiesRobert Manduca0Harvard UniversityMore than 50 years after the Civil Rights Act, black–white family income disparities in the United States remain almost exactly the same as what they were in 1968. This article argues that a key and underappreciated driver of the racial income gap has been the national trend of rising income inequality. From 1968 to 2016, black–white disparities in family income rank narrowed by almost one-third. But this relative gain was negated by changes to the national income distribution that resulted in rapid income growth for the richest—and most disproportionately white—few percentiles of the country combined with income stagnation for the poor and middle class. But for the rise in income inequality, the median black–white family income gap would have decreased by about 30 percent. Conversely, without the partial closing of the rank gap, growing inequality alone would have increased the racial income gap by 30 percent.https://www.sociologicalscience.com/articles-v5-8-182/Income InequalityRaceStratificationDisparities
spellingShingle Robert Manduca
Income Inequality and the Persistence of Racial Economic Disparities
Sociological Science
Income Inequality
Race
Stratification
Disparities
title Income Inequality and the Persistence of Racial Economic Disparities
title_full Income Inequality and the Persistence of Racial Economic Disparities
title_fullStr Income Inequality and the Persistence of Racial Economic Disparities
title_full_unstemmed Income Inequality and the Persistence of Racial Economic Disparities
title_short Income Inequality and the Persistence of Racial Economic Disparities
title_sort income inequality and the persistence of racial economic disparities
topic Income Inequality
Race
Stratification
Disparities
url https://www.sociologicalscience.com/articles-v5-8-182/
work_keys_str_mv AT robertmanduca incomeinequalityandthepersistenceofracialeconomicdisparities