Thomas M Shapiro

"Since the Great Recession, most Americans' standard of living has stagnated or declined. Economic inequality is at historic highs. But inequality's impact differs by race; African Americans' net wealth is just a tenth that of white Americans, and over recent decades, white families have accumulated wealth at three times the rate of black families. In our increasingly diverse nation, sociologist Thomas M. Shapiro argues, wealth disparities must be understood in tandem with racial inequities--a dangerous combination he terms "toxic inequality." In Toxic Inequality, Shapiro reveals how these forces combine to trap families in place. Following nearly two hundred families of different races and income levels over a period of twelve years, Shapiro's research vividly documents the recession's toll on parents and children, the ways families use assets to manage crises and create opportunities, and the real reasons some families build wealth while others struggle in poverty. The structure of our neighborhoods, workplaces, and tax code--much more than individual choices--push some forward and hold others back. A lack of assets, far more common in families of color, can often ruin parents' careful plans for themselves and their children. Toxic inequality may seem inexorable, but it is not inevitable. America's growing wealth gap and its yawning racial divide have been forged by history and preserved by policy, and only bold, race-conscious reforms can move us toward a more just society."--Publisher's description.

Over the past three decades, racial prejudice in America has declined significantly and many African American families have seen a steady rise in employment and annual income. But alongside these encouraging signs, Thomas Shapiro argues in The Hidden Cost of Being African American, fundamental levels of racial inequality persist, particularly in the area of asset accumulation--inheritance, savings accounts, stocks, bonds, home equity, and other investments-. Shapiro reveals how the lack of these family assets along with continuing racial discrimination in crucial areas like homeownership dramatically impact the everyday lives of many black families, reversing gains earned in schools and on jobs, and perpetuating the cycle of poverty in which far too many find themselves trapped.
Shapiro uses a combination of in-depth interviews with almost 200 families from Los Angeles, Boston, and St. Louis, and national survey data with 10,000 families to show how racial inequality is transmitted across generations. We see how those families with private wealth are able to move up from generation to generation, relocating to safer communities with better schools and passing along the accompanying advantages to their children. At the same time those without significant wealth remain trapped in communities that don't allow them to move up, no matter how hard they work. Shapiro challenges white middle class families to consider how the privileges that wealth brings not only improve their own chances but also hold back people who don't have them. This "wealthfare" is a legacy of inequality that, if unchanged, will project social injustice far into the future.

Showing that over half of black families fall below the asset poverty line at the beginning of the new century, The Hidden Cost of Being African American will challenge all Americans to reconsider what must be done to end racial inequality.

Thomas Shapiro blends personal stories, interviews, empirical data, and analysis to illuminate how family assets produce dramatic consequences in the everyday lives of ordinary citizens. This book will re-shape public understanding of racial inequality and will help us understand why new policies are necessary. Over the past three decades, racial prejudice in America has declined significantly and many African-American families have seen a steady rise in employment and annual income. Alongside these encouraging signs, Shapiro argues that fundamental levels of racial inequality persist, particularly in the area of asset accumulation. This book demonstrates how families use private wealth to leverage advantages in communities and schooling for themselves and their children. In this eye-opening volume, Shapiro uses a combination of in-depth interviews with almost 200 families from Los Angeles, Boston, and St.
Louis, and national survey data with 10,000 families to show how racial inequality is passed down from generation to generation through the use of private family wealth. Shapiro adroitly illustrates the profound importance of assets--savings accounts, stocks, bonds, home equity, and other investments--to the past, present, and future lives of American families. For instance, young, white middle class-families typically purchase their first homes with substantial financial assistance from their extended family, and thus wealth accumulated from the past transforms opportunities into a substantial head start in life. This "wealthfare" is a legacy of past inequality visiting the present and may well project social injustice for generations into the future. An asset perspective, Shapiro shows, is a truer measure of the economic health of the black community--over half the black families fell below an asset poverty line in 1999.
Moreover, an asset-based perspective, unlike currently used income-based approaches, gives insight into issues underlying debates ranging from school choice, welfare reform, and economic inequality.