About
"Reproducing Black Middle-Class Culture"
In this project, I ask how Jack and Jill, a social organization for the black middle-class, shapes children’s beliefs about race and class. Through analysis of qualitative data collected from interviews and ethnographic observation in two Atlanta chapters of Jack and Jill (one urban, the other suburban), I reveal how the organization structures the process of becoming an adult member of the black middle class and the extent to which Jack and Jill children learn to think about race and class in the ways that adult members (their parents) want them to. The book chapter and stand-alone article I will revise during the Summer Faculty Fellowship focus on what Jack and Jill mothers mean by the term “black culture.” I show that the mothers embrace three dimensions of black culture as central to the establishment of a black identity: an affinity for dancing, the importance of dressing appropriately, and buffering black children from racism. The mothers seek to transmit these adult values to their children. Description:In this project, I ask how Jack and Jill, a social organization for the black middle-class, shapes children’s beliefs about race and class. Through analysis of qualitative data collected from interviews and ethnographic observation in two Atlanta chapters of Jack and Jill (one urban, the other suburban), I reveal how the organization structures the process of becoming an adult member of the black middle class and the extent to which Jack and Jill children learn to think about race and class in the ways that adult members (their parents) want them to. The book chapter and stand-alone article I will revise during the Summer Faculty Fellowship focus on what Jack and Jill mothers mean by the term “black culture.” I show that the mothers embrace three dimensions of black culture as central to the establishment of a black identity: an affinity for dancing, the importance of dressing appropriately, and buffering black children from racism. The mothers seek to transmit these adult values to their children. Description:In this project, I ask how Jack and Jill, a social organization for the black middle-class, shapes children’s beliefs about race and class. Through analysis of qualitative data collected from interviews and ethnographic observation in two Atlanta chapters of Jack and Jill (one urban, the other suburban), I reveal how the organization structures the process of becoming an adult member of the black middle class and the extent to which Jack and Jill children learn to think about race and class in the ways that adult members (their parents) want them to. The book chapter and stand-alone article I will revise during the Summer Faculty Fellowship focus on what Jack and Jill mothers mean by the term “black culture.” I show that the mothers embrace three dimensions of black culture as central to the establishment of a black identity: an affinity for dancing, the importance of dressing appropriately, and buffering black children from racism. The mothers seek to transmit these adult values to their children.
Karyn Lacy is Associate Professor of Sociology.
