Black child, white child: The development of racial attitudes

Thirty-six preschoolers and 41 second graders were asked: (a) to rank, in order of preference, a white child, a black child, and an Indian child as recipients of sharing; (b) to share with the preferred recipient items of low and high value; and (c) to rank the three recipients as companions in several hypothetical, social interaction situations varying in social distance. The distributions of first choices for sharing indicated that the preschool subjects preferred the white recipient most, the Indian recipient next, and the black recipient least, while the second graders preferred the Indian recipient over the white and black recipients. The second graders who preferred the black recipient shared a larger number of items than those who preferred to share with one of the other two recipients. The distributions of first choices for the social distance items were generally consistent with those for sharing, and subjects from one school exhibited some differential sensitivity to the items of the social distance scale. The results of this investigation and those of previous research suggest that the influence of the race of the recipient on sharing behavior varies with the experimental design used.

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A Penny on the Dollar: Racial Inequalities in Wealth among Households with Children

Socius Sociological Research for a Dynamic World ◽

10.1177/2378023120916616 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

pp. 237802312091661 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Christine Percheski ◽

Christina Gibson-Davis

Keyword(s):

Home Ownership ◽

Wealth Inequality ◽

White Child ◽

Black Child ◽

Home Equity ◽

Net Worth ◽

Hispanic Child ◽

Black And White ◽

Consumer Finances ◽

Households With Children

The dynamics of racial/ethnic wealth inequality among U.S. families with resident children (child households) have been understudied, a major oversight because of wealth’s impact on child development and intergenerational mobility. Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances (2004–2016), the authors find that wealth gaps between black and white households are larger in, and have grown faster for, child households relative to the general population. In contrast, black-white income gaps for child households have remained largely unchanged. Wealth trends for black and Hispanic child households have diverged, and by 2016, Hispanic child households had more net worth than black child households. Between 2004 and 2016, home ownership rates and home equity levels for black child households decreased, while educational debt increased. In 2016, black child households had just one cent for every dollar held by non-Hispanic white child households. These findings depict the extreme wealth fragility of black child households.

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