Papers by Katrina McDonald
The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare
Patricia Fernandez-Kelly, The Hero’s Fight. Princeton University Press (2015), 422 pages, $21.00 ... more Patricia Fernandez-Kelly, The Hero’s Fight. Princeton University Press (2015), 422 pages, $21.00 (hardcover)
Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 2018
Historically extended family networks have been identified as contributing to the resiliency of B... more Historically extended family networks have been identified as contributing to the resiliency of Black families. However, little is known about how extended family networks impact the lives of Black married couples. What we do know largely stems from quantitative research. Using a thematic analysis of qualitative interviews, we examine extended family network relationships among 47 Black couples from the Contemporary Black Marriage Study who had been married for more than 5 years. Black married couples’ relationship with extended family networks affects the marriage through the following acts: (a) extended family living, (b) childcare, (c) advice and emotional support, and (d) interfamilial conflict. The four themes influenced Black marriages in various ways. This study has implications for social workers working with married couples.
Societies, 2015
Black families in the United States are usually studied from a deficit perspective that primarily... more Black families in the United States are usually studied from a deficit perspective that primarily considers single parents in poverty. There is, however, considerable diversity among American Black families in terms of social class, immigration status, marital status, and parenting values and practices. Using data from the Contemporary Black Marriage Study, a study of young married couples who are native-born Black, African immigrants, or Caribbean immigrants, this research examines childbearing and parenting values from an intersectional perspective. A sample of whites is included for comparison purposes. The research considers impacts of social class, immigration, gender, and race as well as structural influences. Diversity exists both within and among social and demographic groups.
Sorting out the various macro and micro causes of Black mothers' downward residential mobility is... more Sorting out the various macro and micro causes of Black mothers' downward residential mobility is extremely difficult, though past research has been fairly successful in identifying and explaining the mechanisms by which structural factors constrain Black residential change. The socio-historical context in which Black mothers operate, however, is largely ignored in these studies. We argue that past scholarship on Black women's social history offers some helpful insights into the "residential desires and decision making" related to Black women's social location. This paper pinpoints instances of downward residential mobility among a sample of disadvantaged Black mothers and works to elucidate both structurally-and culturally-related circumstances that help to explain them. In particular, it seeks to connect "residential desires and decision making" to sentiments Black women have had historically toward their family and community obligations. This study interweaves quantitative and qualitative data from the Baltimore Study, which traces the movement of disadvantaged Black mothers in and out of socioeconomic categories, including in and out of distressed neighborhoods over a 30-year period of their life course (approximately 1968-1996).
The Review of Black Political Economy, 2001
Sociological Spectrum, 2008
In this article, we demonstrate how the taken-for-granted, inner-workings of culture can become i... more In this article, we demonstrate how the taken-for-granted, inner-workings of culture can become implicated in the (in)visibility of minority members. We seek to illuminate ways in which institutions may unwittingly facilitate (in)visibility through their organizational habitus. We begin by providing further evidence of invisibility and visibility as real and commonly experienced psychosocial phenomena among minorities within predominantly white, institutional settings. In particular, we argue that a minority's inconspicuousness can be simultaneously fused together with one's conspicuousness to form what we call racial=ethnic (in)visibility. This study employs focus-group data collected from a sample of administrators and faculty from elite K-12 independent (private) schools, an institution that admittedly has been slow to make cultural change in its racial=ethnic ideologies and practices. Since the ratification of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, many American institutions (i.e., formal organizations, such as government bureaus, corporations, hospitals, and schools) have sought-either by A special debt is owed to Karl Alexander for reviewing an earlier version of this manuscript. We are also grateful for the invaluable research assistance of Shelly Brown,
Social Science Quarterly, 2002
Objective. In this study we examine race differences in the effect of childhood in an urban inner... more Objective. In this study we examine race differences in the effect of childhood in an urban inner–city community on educational attainment in adulthood. Methods. We examine a cohort of African American and white individuals born in the late 1950s and early 1960s in the same hospital. Our analysis examines a set of individual, family, and community characteristics for the respondents at three time points in their life course, birth, childhood, and adulthood. Results. We find that black men and women are substantially more likely than their white counterparts to graduate from high school, and that black women are more likely than white men, black men, and white women to graduate from high school and college. Conclusions. We conclude that social policy to eradicate urban disadvantage must not shift its focus to the plight of poor whites to the neglect of African Americans. Rather, we urge that inner–city white children be “drawn out of the shadows” of social research and that the uniqu...
Journal of Marriage and Family, 2001
Past research suggests that despite the substantial strengths of Black kin networks, they are not... more Past research suggests that despite the substantial strengths of Black kin networks, they are not always up to the task of supporting young mothers. This study is an analysis of potential barriers to women‐centered kin support for present‐day urban Black teen mothers and possible implications for kin support mandates specified in the 1996 federal welfare reforms. In‐depth interviews with African American midlife women, who themselves were teen mothers, shed light on their attitudes and perceptions about Black kinship systems and teen childbearing. Study results suggest that these women perceive governmental intervention, age‐condensation among urban Black families, and urban “underclass” culture to have undermined traditional Black intergenerational support.
Gender & Society, 1997
The prevalence of poor health among young disadvantaged Black mothers and their children has prom... more The prevalence of poor health among young disadvantaged Black mothers and their children has prompted a revival of maternal activism among Black middle-class urban women. A study of the California-based “Birthing Project,” founded in 1988, reveals that such activism is best understood as a modern-day version of Black activist mothering practiced by African American clubwomen from the time of slavery to the early 1940s. This article demonstrates the legacy of “normative empathy” as a significant motivator for middle-class maternal activism and as a basis for a middle-class critique of Black mothering among the disadvantaged.
Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 2008
With this purported new" era of high-profile, mega successful, black women w... more With this purported new" era of high-profile, mega successful, black women who are changing the face of every major field worldwide" and growing socioeconomic diversity among black women as the backdrop, Embracing Sisterhood seeks to determine where contemporary black women's ideas of black womanhood and sisterhood merge with social class status to shape certain attachments and detachments among them. Similarities as well as variations in how black women of different social backgrounds perceive and live black ...
Human Organization, 1996
Family assistance helps many teenage or young unmarried mothers to cope with poverty and the chal... more Family assistance helps many teenage or young unmarried mothers to cope with poverty and the challenges of childrearing. Kin support to young mothers, while beneficial, should not be romanticized. It also often entails conflict, stress, frustration, and disappointment due to interpersonal tensions, or conflicting interests, or relatives' limited ability to provide support. Nearly always the underlying issue is a discrepancy between the young mother's expectations and her support network's performance. We describe three sources of unrealistic expectations: relatives' initial reactions to her pregnancy, a history of early childbearing by relatives, and desires for a relationship with baby's father.
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Papers by Katrina McDonald