Income Inequality and the Persistence of Racial Economic Disparities

[Uncle Joe]

(snip)

In a new paper published in Sociological Science, I show that the intransigent racial income gap results from two opposing trends. Since the 1960s, there has been improvement in the relative position of blacks compared to whites. Despite continued disparities in parental wealth, access to educational resources, and treatment in the labor market, the median African American has moved up the income distribution, from the 25th percentile of family income in 1968 to the 35th percentile today:

But this improvement in rank occurred just as macroeconomic shifts were causing wages to stagnate for the poor and middle class, and an ever-increasing share of national income to be allocated to the rich. Because of this dramatic growth in income inequality, the earnings at the 35th percentile have plummeted relative to the national mean:

Whites remain richer than average, so a decline relative to the national mean also means a decline relative to whites as a group. On net these two trends–improving relative position and increasing income inequality–have canceled each other out, such that there has been no overall change in the black-white family income gap.
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If income inequality hadn’t gone up, the racial income gap would have decreased by about 30% over the past 50 years:

(snip)

http://www.robertmanduca.com/2018/03/income-inequality-persistence-racial-economic-disparities/

[mythology]

1. That's interesting.

[Uncle Joe]

2. Yes, the end result

is that blacks today have a larger portion of a smaller piece of pie than the 1960s.

Interestingly enough the 1960s when income inequality was much less of a problem than today also happened to coincide with the Civil Rights and Women's movement.

I don't believe that was just a coincidence, the middle class was stronger and more resilient then.

Today the middle class is a shell of itself and deeply in debt, this no doubt adds stress to our society and I believe exacerbates racial tensions even more.

As different groups of all persuasions jockey more for a bite of said smaller piece of pie, the oligarchs and their corporate media conglomerate mouth pieces can more easily divide and DISTRACT the American People from the critical issues of the day insuring continued mega-corporate/oligarch domination.

[ProudLib72]

3. So economic parity means loss of white hegemony and that exacerbates racial tensions

What is truly strange is that a core group are prepared to transfer that hegemony to white oligarchs, preferring it remain in white hands even if that means they have lost control themselves. So the RW ideology that hegemony is shared based on whiteness leads to the reproduction of the means of production (RWers voting for a group of wealthy elite bent on constantly shrinking the middle class piece of the pie).

[Uncle Joe]

4. That "core group" in large part

has been brainwashed via overt and subliminal means by the corporate media conglomerates.

"Illegals are taking our jobs and that's why times are tough" along with a plethora of other propaganda designed to either divide or distract the average white working American.

You can blame FOX "News" along with their ilk and rightfully so but CNN and MSNBC have the same basic economic conflicts of interest, sell commercials, please their shareholders and corporate parents at the expense of the best interests of the public.

That's why they virtually never cover and debate the public good in depth and for a decent period of time.

Global warming climate change forget about it, dysfunctional wealth inequality outta here, universal health care blah, Net Neutrality too close to home etc. etc. etc.

It's all about shifting the blame from the oligarchs and mega-corporations; which purchase tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars in commercials every year from the corporate media conglomerates to the weak and disenfranchised among us and the CMGs have been largely successful in that endeavor.

They know that Democrats out poll Republicans straight up on the issues so that's why corporate media coverage rarely covers the issues, with them it's out of sight out of mind.

Divide, distract and conquer.

[ProudLib72]

5. I think of it like Louis Althusser's "ideological state apparatus"

Ideological state apparatuses (ISA), according to Althusser, use methods other than physical violence to achieve the same objectives as RSA. They may include educational institutions (e.g. schools), media outlets, churches, social/sports clubs and the family. These formations are ostensibly apolitical and part of civil society, rather than a formal part of the state (i.e. as is the case in RSA). In terms of psychology they could be described as psychosocial, because they aim to inculcate ways of seeing and evaluating things, events and class relations. Instead of expressing and imposing order, through violent repression, ISA disseminate ideologies that reinforce the control of a dominant class. People tend to be co-opted by fear of social rejection, e.g. ostracisation, ridicule and isolation. In Althusser's view, a social class cannot hold state power unless, and until, it simultaneously exercises hegemony (domination) over and through ISA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology_and_Ideological_State_Apparatuses

[Uncle Joe]

6. I believe you nailed it ProudLib

Peace to you