Under and Beyond Constraints: Resource Allocation to Young Children from Biracial FamiliesPosted in Articles, Family/Parenting, Media Archive, Social Science, United States on 2010-03-20 17:19Z by Steven |
Under and Beyond Constraints: Resource Allocation to Young Children from Biracial Families
American Journal of Sociology
Volume 112, Number 4 (January 2007)
pages 1044–1094
ISSN: 0002-9602/2007/11204-0003
DOI: 10.1086/508793
Simon Cheng, Associate Professor of Sociology
University of Connecticut
Brian Powell, Rudy Professor of Sociology
Indiana University
Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99, the authors examine the extent to which biracial families differ from monoracial families in their transmission of resources to young children. In these analyses, the authors demonstrate the utility of distinguishing not only between white—biracial and nonwhite—biracial families and but also between even more refined measures of biracial families (e.g., white father/Asian mother). The authors find that, in most cases, biracial families provide comparable or greater economic and cultural resources to their children than do their monoracial counterparts, but offer fewer advantages in interactional/social resources. This overall pattern remains even after sociodemographic factors are taken into consideration. Exceptions to this pattern also are identified and explored. Implications for our understanding of racial stratification, interracial relations, and the role of both human agency and constraints on intergenerational transmission of resources are discussed.
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