Social Work Today E-Zine

For generations, social scientists have defined the black middle class in family terms, as married couples with children. But a study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows that a growing percentage of the black middle class are young, single people living alone (dubbed the Love Jones cohort in the study). “We’ve dispelled the assumption among scholars that blacks have to be married to be middle class,” says Kris Marsh, PhD, a post-doctoral scholar at UNC’s Carolina Population Center and author of the study, which appears in a recent issue of Social Forces.

Marsh and her colleagues studied United States census data from 1980, 1990, and 2000. The data show that among the black middle class, aged 25 to 44, the Love Jones cohort more than doubled its share between 1980 and 2000, from 5.8% to more than 14%. Meanwhile, the percentage of married couples, living together, with children declined from 64.6% to 48% in that same time period.

By following the data through three decades, the study also confirmed that the Love Jones cohort do not simply delay marriage but remain single and continue to accumulate wealth. This contradicts previous research that said a reduction in marriage and childbearing has created a black middle class in stagnation or in decline. Instead, Marsh says, her work reveals a vibrant population, but the composition is changing.

— Source: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill