{"product_id":"spheres-of-influence-the-social-ecology-of-racial-and-class-inequality-9780871546432","title":"Spheres of Influence: The Social Ecology of Racial and Class Inequality","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe black-white divide has long haunted the United States as a driving force behind social inequality. Yet  the civil rights movement  the increase in immigration  and the restructuring of the economy in favor of the rich over the last several decades have begun to alter the contours of inequality. Spheres of Influence  co-authored by noted social scientists Douglas S. Massey and Stefanie Brodmann  presents a rigorous new study of the intersections of racial and class disparities today. Massey and Brodmann argue that despite the persistence of potent racial inequality  class effects are drastically transforming social stratification in America. This data-intensive volume examines the differences in access to material  symbolic  and emotional resources across major racial groups. The authors find that the effects of racial inequality are exacerbated by the class differences within racial groups. For example  when measuring family incomes solely according to race  Massey and Brodmann found that black families average income measured $28 400  compared to Hispanic families $35 200. But this gap was amplified significantly when class differences within each group were taken into account. With class factored in  inequality across blacks and Hispanics family incomes increased by a factor of almost four  with lower class black families earning an average income of only $9 300 compared to $97 000 for upper class Hispanics. Massey and Brodmann found similar interactions between class and racial effects on the distribution of symbolic resources  such as occupational status  and emotional resources  such as the presence of a biological fatheracross racial groups. Although there are racial differences in each groups access to these resources  like income  these disparities are even more pronounced once class is factored in. The complex interactions between race and class are apparent in other social spheres  such as health and education. In looking at health disparities across groups  Massey and Brodmann observed no single class effect on the propensity to smoke cigarettes. Among whites  cigarette smoking declined with rising class standing  whereas among Hispanics it increased as class rose. Among Asians and blacks  there was no class difference at all. Similarly  the authors found no single effect of race alone on health: Health differences between whites  Asians  Hispanics  and blacks were small and non-significant in the upper class  but among those in the lower class  intergroup differences were pronounced. As Massey and Brodmann show  in the United States  a growing kaleidoscope of race-class interactions has replaced pure racial and class disadvantages. By advancing an ecological model of human development that considers the dynamics of race and class across multiple social spheres  Spheres of Influence sheds important light on the factors that are currently driving inequality today.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45647827501109,"sku":"ByrdShop_0871546434","price":54.15,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780871546432.jpg?v=1781697353","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/spheres-of-influence-the-social-ecology-of-racial-and-class-inequality-9780871546432","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}