Opportunity and regression: American blacks in the post-Civil Rights era

Much scholarly debate over the past twenty years in the field of race relations in the U.S. concerns the issue of whether and to what extent life chances have improved for black Americans as a result of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. While both optimistic and pessimistic analyses of the problem abound in the literature, the present investigation discloses that there is no simple answer to the question, and that the persistence in regarding black Americans as a homogeneous group who have been affected uniformly by social and economic change has contributed to considerable conceptual confusion regarding the nature and degree of black progress. The present dissertation shows that certain economic and political trends in the U.S. over the past twenty years have resulted in a growing differential in opportunity and achievement for two segments of the black population: the new black middle class whose ranks have increased considerably in recent decades, and whose access to a brighter socioeconomic status has improved; and the growing black underclass, whose access to even minimal goods and services of society has been steadily eroding since the early 1970s. This paper examines empirical evidence of the development of this class differential among blacks, looking specifically at changes in four indicators: occupation, income, education, and housing. Using data drawn primarily from the U.S. Census Bureau and other federal reports, the examination discloses evidence of both progress and regression for blacks on all four indicators. Further examination explores the economic and political factors which have accompanied and promoted the differential among blacks. The economic factors include a recession-riddled economy in the midst of profound transformation from industrial production to high-tech and services. The contributing political factors include the inception of various social policies and programs (and ultimately the dismantling of some of them) which have had different impacts on different segments of the black population. These differential impacts of policy are explored for each of the four indicators.