The Declining Significance of Race in the twenty-first century: a retrospective assessment in the context of rising class inequality

Abstract

No other book in modern sociology is so well known but yet so roundly dismissed as William J. Wilson's The Declining Significance of Race. Its major thesis is supported, however, by a great deal of credible and systematic evidence. Its historical analysis is notably informative and prescient in predicting rising class inequality. The Declining Significance of Race remains vitally important reading for enhancing our understanding of inequality in contemporary America.

Keywords:

• African Americans
• race
• class
• inequality
• poverty
• labour markets

Acknowledgements

For research support, we thank our Department of Sociology at Texas A&M University. The authors are solely responsible for the opinions and views expressed herein.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The logic of this approach suggests that Pettit could have also considered other sub-populations in group quarters, such as persons in military installations, nursing facilities, psychiatric wards, hospices, co-ops and college dormitories.

2. The embracement of this economic view by sociologists seems theoretically odd because most of these economic analyses ignore the declining labour force participation of African American men (which have been emphasized by sociologists such as Pettit) and because the conventional economic model of the labour market has long been strongly critiqued by sociologists.

3. These results are available upon request from the authors. The basic statistical conclusion is not significantly altered when including into the calculations persons living in group quarters.

4. This conclusion applies to absolute poverty as well as to relative poverty. The results are available upon request.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Arthur Sakamoto

ARTHUR SAKAMOTO is Professor in the Department of Sociology at Texas A&M University.

Sharron Xuanren Wang

SHARRON XUANREN WANG is a Graduate Student in the Department of Sociology at Texas A&M University.