Is Marriage for White People?: How the African American Marriage Decline Affects Everyone
Hardcover – September 1, 2011
Description
"A brave and convincing argument...A triumphant work that demystifies the intersection between compatibility and color."--Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2011"...the findings presented in this slender book are provocative in the best sense: They explode much of the received wisdom concerning the socioeconomic woes of American blacks....There seems little doubt that Banks' book, whether it solves the problem it takes on, will ignite an acrimonious debate. But if that debate is as long-lasting and far-ranging as the problems Banks has exposed deserve, then his book will have done a great deal of good."--Sam Munson, The Daily, September 4, 2011"Peppered with interviews and candid opinions about marriage and relationships, this is a surprisingly intimate scholarly work; the sobering topic is tempered by the author's easy-to-read, captivating style."-- Publishers Weekly, June 27, 2011"This engaging and well-written book addresses a puzzling question: why middle-class black men and women are less likely to marry than middle-class Americans of other races. Banks' illuminating study is a must-read for those concerned about the decline in marriage among African Americans."--William Julius Wilson, Harvard University"Learned and unflinching, careful but provocative. Banks unabashedly explores the most volatile racial issues.xa0Sure to provoke a fierce debate."--Randall Kennedy, Harvard Law School"Fascinating--and very brave! Banks surveys the brambly landscape of marriage prospects for accomplished African American women, bringing into view rarely seen prides, longings, prejudices and unexpected choices.xa0 Banks' probing examination makes a gripping read."--Nancy F. Cott, author of Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the Nation“African-American women are half as likely as white women to be married, and twice as likely never to marry. Stanford law professor Ralph Richard Banks takes on the black middle-class: women who are outpacing their male peers to a degree more pronounced than in any other racial group. He hopes to open the discourse, and maybe a few minds.”--Jessica Bennett, Newsweek, September 1, 2011 I hope through this book to extend and elevate the conversation about the decline in marriage among African Americans. While the book takes the reader inside the lives of college-educated black women, it also brings into view the broader economic and cultural shifts that have transformed the terrain of intimate relationships for everyone.xa0I highlight one development in particular in which black women not participated: interracial marriage. Even as they have the fewest viable potential partners within their group, black women lead the most segregated intimate lives in the nation. That's the issue at the heart of this book: Why haven't more black women found love across the color line? I explain whyxa0black women would benefit themselves and their race if they did so. From the Inside Flap IS MARRIAGE FOR WHITE PEOPLE? xa0xa0How the African American Marriage Decline Affects EveryoneRalph Richard BanksFront FlapA provocative--and paradoxical--account of the steep decline in marriage among the African American middle class.During the past half century, marriage has declined throughout American society. Among those who do marry, the wife is more likely than ever to out-earn or be better educated than her husband. Why have these changes occurred? How have they shaped intimate relationships? Is Marriage for White People? answer these questions through an exploration of the lives of the black middle class. African Americans are the most unmarried group of people in our nation. Black women are three times as likely asxa0 white women never to marry. And when black women do marry, they are more likely than any other group of women to marry a man who is less educated or earns less than they do. In fact, more than half of college-educated black wives have less educated husbands.While Banks highlights the implications of the black experience for people of all races, he also explores a puzzle particular to African Americans: why, amidst rising rates of interracial marriage, so few black women wed someone of a different race. Successful black women typically remain unmarried or marry down; they do not marry out. Merging the best available scholarly research with the intimate personal stories of women and men throughout the nation, this unflinchingly honest and nuanced inquiry is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the changing landscape of intimacy and family life in American society.Back FlapIn this masterful book, Banks explains:--Why black women lead the most segregated intimate lives of any Americans.--How technological change and the global labor market leave black men worse off and black women better off.--Why the suggestion by Bill Cosby and President Obama that black men do not care about their children is wrong.--How the economic struggles of working class black men lower the marriage rate of affluent black men.--Why more interracial marriage by black women might prompt more black men and women to marry each other.Ralph Richard Banks is the Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, where he has taught about marriage, race, discrimination, and inequality since 1998. His writings have appeared in academic journals such as the Stanford Law Review and the Yale Law Journal and in popular publications such as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Tribune. He lives in Palo Alto, California with his wife and three sons. "Fascinating--and very brave! Banks stays up close and personal as he surveys the brambly landscape of marriage prospects for accomplished African American women, bringing into view rarely seen prides, longings, prejudices, and unexpected choices. Banks' probing examination makes a gripping read." -- Nancy Cott, Harvard University, author of Public Vows: A History of Marriage and xa0the Nation"An engaging and well-written book with compelling in-depth interviews.xa0 Banks presents some surprising and revealing findings. His illuminating study is a must-read for those concerned about the decline in marriage among African Americans." --xa0William Julius Wilson, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard xa0University Black women have been told that their standards are too high. They worry that if they want to be married and are not, it is their own fault.Some have come to believe that they only have two options: a troubled relationship or no relationship.And some women of other races don't imagine that black women's lives can enable them to understand their own. They are all wrong ."A path-breaking book, an indispensable read."--Deborah L. Rhode, Stanford University, author of The Beauty Bias"Learned and unflinching, careful but provocative. Banks unabashedly explores the most volatile racial issues. Sure to provoke a fierce debate."--Randall Kennedy, Harvard Law School, author of Interracial Intimaciesxa0 xa0"This brilliant and provocative book tells stories we all need to hear."--Susan Fiske, Eugene Higgins Professor, Princeton University Ralph Richard Banks is the Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, where he has taught about marriage, race, discrimination, and inequality since 1998. His writings have appeared in academic journals such as the Stanford Law Review and the Yale Law Journal and in popular publications such as The New York Times , the Los Angeles Times , and the Chicago Tribune . He lives in Palo Alto. Read more
Features & Highlights
- During the past half century, African Americans have become the most unmarried people in our nation. More than two out of every three black women are unmarried, and they are more than twice as likely as white women never to marry. The racial gap in marriage extends beyond the poor. Affluent and college educated African Americans are also less likely to marry or stay married than their white counterparts. That harms black children and adults, and imperils the growth and stability of the black middle class. One reason that marriage has declined is that as black women have advanced economically and educationally, black men have fallen behind. Nearly twice as many black women as black men graduate from college each year.Thus, not only are many college-educated black women unmarried, they are more likely than any other group of women to marry less educated and lower earning men. Half of college-educated black wives are more educated than their husbands.Yet black women rarely marry men of other races. They are less than half as likely as black men, and only a third as likely as Latinos or Asian Americans, to wed across group lines.
- Is Marriage for White People?
- traces the far-reaching consequences of the African American marriage decline. It also explains why black women marry down rather than out. Its provocative conclusion is that black women would benefit both themselves and the black race if they crossed class lines less and race lines more. As particular as this inquiry may seem, it is also universal. Americans of all races are more unmarried now than ever. And as women surpass men educationally, wives increasingly earn more than their husbands. In illuminating the lives of African Americans,
- Is Marriage for White People?
- thus probes cultural and economic trends that implicate everyone, highlighting the extent to which the experience of black women may become that of all women. This book both informs and entertains. The culmination of a decade of research by a distinguished Stanford law professor, it melds scholarly theory and data with the poignant stories shared by black women throughout the nation. This unforgettable book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the shifting terrain of intimacy in American society.
