Nathanuel Brown

Nathanuel Brown,Word Count 450

Article #1:  "African American, Hispanic, and White Beliefs about Black/White Inequality, 1977-2004".

The methods used in this article was by using the General Social Survey or GSS (Hunt, 396). The GSS is a survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center or NORC. The GSS has a survey size of 3,000 with a 82% response rate (396). Also, the GSS uses people who are 18 and older who live in non-institutionalized settings in the United States. The GSS is a survey that looks for trends in minority samples (396).

The first two tables used by the author Matthew Hunt found that whites tended to attribute a lack in ability for blacks as a reason for their inequality throughout the late 90's and early 2000's. However, there was a reduction in whites saying that motivation is the cause of inequality. Hunt's third table has findings of whites decline from ability reasoning for inequality, but an increase in the motivation reasoning for inequality of blacks and whites (399). Whites being the one giving the judgement of blacks. Another important trend is that non-hispanic whites seem to be choosing none, as in rejecting any reason for the gap between blacks and whites, has tripled (399).

Furthermore, there shows to be a decline in many areas. Whites ability reasoning is going down and blacks structural reasoning is going down. The inverse is happening, and therefore, an equalizing effect is occurring. Blacks are actually increasing in their opinion of ability as reasoning for inequality (400). Originally, whites attributed inequality more towards ability than structural reasoning, and blacks attributed inequality more towards structural reasoning than ability.

Article #2: "Race, Ethnicity and the Quality of Life in America,1972-2008".         

The methods used in this article was by using the General Social Survey or GSS (Coverdill et, al 783). The GSS is a survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center or NORC. The GSS has a survey size of 3,000. Also, the GSS uses people who are 18 and older who live in non-institutionalized settings in the United States. Coverdill, Lopez, and Petrie use the GSS to assess four different variations of happiness among different races to determine quality of life (789).

The variations of happiness are categorized as: overall happiness, marital happiness, trust, and health status. Here in this study, it shows that gaps are closing as whites trust levels have gone down and blacks overall happiness have gone up (799). Also, latinos are an under researched group under the lens of equality because it is addressed as a black and white issue. However, quality of life is a minority and majority issue. Finding show that latinos have an overall lower quality of life compared to non-latinos (800). Latinos are a growing minority that are identifying as white rather than black lowering the quality of life results for whites(800).

  

Samantha Sparks

Article #1 – "African American, Hispanic, and White Beliefs about Black/White Inequality" by Matthew O. Hunt

 

                For this study, Hunt used data from General Social Surveys (GSS) from 1977 to 2004, to figure out if African Americans, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic whites differ in their reasonings for the socioeconomic divide separating blacks and whites in the U.S. In this study, a sample size of approximately 3,000 English-speaking adults, 18 years and older, living in the U.S. were used. Data from 1985 to 2004 included 16,397 respondents that consisted of 13,397 non-Hispanic whites, 2,022 African Americans, and 858 Hispanics. Respondents were asked the following question: "On the average, blacks have worse jobs, income, and housing than white people. Do you think these differences are… A. Mainly due to discrimination; B. Because most blacks have less in-born ability to learn; C. Because most blacks don't have the chance for education that it takes to rise out of poverty; D. Because most blacks just don't have the motivation or will power to pull themselves out of poverty." Response choices were Yes or No. From 1985 to 2004, the percentage of Non-Hispanic whites that said "Yes" explaining the Black/White Gap was "due to discrimination" dropped from 40.9% to 31.0%; African Americans dropped from 76.6% to 60.7%; and Hispanics dropped from 60.6% to 40.7%. For "less in-born ability", Non-Hispanic Whites saying yes dropped from 20.7% to 10.3%; African Americans dropped from 15.8% to 13.9%; and Hispanics dropped from 17.3% to 15.4%. For "lack of chance for education", Non-Hispanic Whites saying yes dropped from 51.8% to 43.2%; African Americans dropped from 67.8% to 54.0%; and Hispanics went from 56.1% to 42.8%. Lastly, for "lack of motivation or will power", Non-Hispanic Whites saying yes dropped from 62.4% to 50.0%; African Americans increased from 35.9% to 44.9%; and Hispanics dropped from 55.7% to 50.6%. In conclusion, this data shows that there is an established decline in support with non-Hispanic whites for traditional belief in the inborn inferiority of African Americans in th4e 1990s and early 2000s. Whites also show a steady belief that discrimination is a factor, however African Americans show a decrease support for discrimination as a factor.  African Americans and Hispanics demonstrate increasing support for the motivational factor.

 

Hunt, Matthew O. "African American, Hispanic, and White Beliefs about Black/White Inequality, 1977-2004." American Sociological Review 72.3 (2007): 390-415. Web.

 

 

Article #2 – "Race, Ethnicity and the Quality of Life in America, 1972-2008" by James E Coverdill, Carlos A Lopez, and Michelle A Petrie

 

For this study, they used the General Social Survey from 1972 to 2008, that had data on the quality-of-life measures in the U.S. (789). The question asked to indicate marital happiness included, "Taking all things together, how would you describe your marriage?" (790). The question asked for overall happiness was, "Taken all together, how would you say things are these days?" (790). The question to indicate self-assessed health included, "Would you say your own health is excellent, good, fair, or poor?" (790). Questions to specify trust (helpful, fair, trust) included 3 questions: "Would you say that most of the time people try to be helpful, or that they are mostly just looking out for themselves?", "Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted or that you cant be too careful in life?", "Do you think most people would try to take advantage of you if they got the chance, or would they try to be fair" (790). Lastly, the question asked to indicate satisfaction with financial situation included, "We are interested in how people are getting along financially these days. So far as you and you're family are concerned, would you say that you are pretty well satisfied with your present financial situation, more or less satisfied, or not satisfied at all?" (790). Findings showed that the gaps of quality of life regarding race has slightly declined. 

 

 

Coverdill, James E., Carlos A. López, and Michelle A. Petrie. "Race, Ethnicity and the Quality of Life in America, 1972-2008." Social Forces 89.3 (2011): 783-805. Web.

Vanessa Rodriguez Word 356

In the article, Earning differentials among Male African immigrants in the United States by Moore. Is a study in where they analyzed how immigrants and where they come from it possibly affect they're socioeconomic in the United States. In this survey, they used an estimate of 5 percent of the participant in 1990 US Census of Population and housing (Moore 2002). In this survey, they had a restriction in age and they only analyzed males from group ages 24 to 64 years old (Moore 2002). In order for them to see what were the differences in the amount they made they look at the language they spoke. As well as the level of education, they earn, and what type of jobs they were working at. In their finding, they found out that African males on average made more than other counties like Egypt and Cape Verde. In 1990 the Africans were making an average of 59,000 and Cape Verde made less since they achieved less education than those in Africa. That concludes they had a hard time figuring out with other countries and immigrants how much they earned without seeing other facts that could influence the study.

 

In the article, African American, Hispanic, and White Beliefs about Blacks/White Inequality by Hunt are a study that focuses on African American disadvantages in democratic principles. They measure the disadvantages the Africans had by looking into their jobs, income, and education. The data for this survey General Social Survey which was conduct in 1977 to 2004, there was an estimate of 3,000 participants for this study. In their finding, they found out that Whites have a decline in racial sentimental and that fairly support in the discrimination mode. That has been increasing over time meaning that they believe that there was no discrimination going on (Hunt 2007). Although African Americans and Hispanic believe this is inequality because of discrimination against African Americans. They also believe there was a gap between whites and blacks based on the way Hispanics and African American's beliefs. That concluded it all depends on racial attitudes, beliefs, and how races are being targeted in discrimination.

 

Erisa Holguin; Inequality Quiz

Erisa Holguin; 466 words

There is no doubt that there is a socioeconomic divide between blacks and whites.  When asked to explain why there is this divide, African Americans, Hispanics, and Whites give differing responses. In the article, Hunt asks if explanations of the socioeconomic divide are changing over time and if so in what way? To find out the answers to these questions Hunt uses the General Social Surveys from 1977-2004. As the results showed, the trend of whites explanation to the socioeconomic divide increasingly was education and motivation and less ability. When blacks were asked about the divide they were twice as likely to say that it was caused by discrimination than both Hispanics and whites. When lack of motivation was used as the explanation whites were the highest percentage to agree while blacks were the least. There is believed to be two reasons why a person-based explanation might be used. One is just plain racism and the belief that whites are superior to blacks.  The second is the thought that blacks are being lazy and unmotivated. This thought of course coincides with whites wanting away with the Welfare program. There is a bad stereotype with welfare that leads people to assume all those on it are lazy and at home doing nothing. A lot of people also believe that African Americans make up the the majority of people receiving welfare. Both of these stereotypes are very incorrect and must be addressed. Over time what the information has shown is that increasingly whites are saying more and more that blacks are equal and are simply behind socioeconomically due to their own faults. The studies show whites belief in this explanation has almost tripled since the late 1980's. What still is the biggest explanation among whites as to why there is any socioeconomic divide is lack of will or motivation. Among blacks the motivation explanation went up, while the education and discrimination explanations declined. Despite this, the majority still believe more in the latter as the explanation to the socioeconomic divide. 

     In the article of Jobs, Poverty, and Earnings in American Metropolises: Do Immigrants Really Hurt The Economic Outcomes of Blacks, the information focuses on how immigration has an effect on poverty, participation, and earnings among black people. The effect created a long conclusion of findings that concluded middle-class African Americans benefiting from immigration and the increase among populations, yet resulting in not being affected in the long run due to the increase of immigrants across these populations. The methods of such included random sampling of over 130 Metropolitan areas, both statistical and primary where results included four tables that states in a linear way that immigrants take in place of those African Americans and how much immigrants have an effect on Black economic outcomes.

Crystal Medrano

                                                                                                              Crystal Medrano

                                                                                                                         521 words

Race, Ethnicity and the Quality of Life in America, 1972-2008

A previous study by Hughes and Thomas in the 1980's, about the white-black quality of life gap, was examined and replicated to seek data that included Latinos. The purpose was to take a new approach and extend the quality of life findings of three race groups white, blacks and Latinos. Hence, hypothesizing that Mexican-Latinos would have less satisfaction with their quality of life, due to significant barriers. Data was gathered from the General Social Survey of 2000-2008 to measure for any trends. Dependent variables measured were marriage and overall happiness, health perception, trust, and financial satisfaction. Independent variables from the previous study were used, with the addition of gender, religious attendance and place of birth. When analyzing the 2000-2008 data, a robust standard error strategy was used.

Results found that the measurable quality of life variables and race significantly decreased during the years and showed that in fact, attending religious services did influence Latinos happiness; something that Hughes and Thomas did not examine in their study. Latinos were categorized as "other category," and when measured with that label, it was found that whites had a higher quality of life than Latinos. Moreover, the hypothesis was not supported even when controlling for certain variables such as income and education, because of the different Latino identities. But, Latinos overall did have poorer life satisfactions than whites, decreasing the gap between whites and blacks from the previous study, due to the patterns found in the extended analysis.

           

Earnings Differentials Among Male African Immigrants in the United States

The study aimed to examine African American male immigrants of different African countries and their income earnings within the U.S. It also aimed to understand how the skills/jobs they acquire from their country over to the U.S could be used (or not) and how that affected their economic success. Two questions were asked, and they focused on the impact of their country of origin and success in the U.S and the English language disadvantage of African immigrants. To gather data, the 1990 U.S. CPH and OLS regression were used to examine 9 African groups, who were between 25 and 64 years old and categorized by either being English speaking or not English speaking.  There were many factors that were found to affect an immigrant's economic success, which were grouped into three independent variables, human capital, characteristics of employment and controlled demographic factors.

            Findings found that the number of weeks and hours worked, occupation and residence greatly impacted African immigrant's financial situation within the U.S. South Africans had the highest benefits and financial earnings than all other groups, in which they attained ten of the variables and Liberian immigrants had the least of only two. When examining the skills that English and non-English immigrants have from the country they migrate and being able to use them in the U.S, it was found that it took over five years for Cape Verde immigrants to adapt and in all, it could be seen that those that don't speak English had much more barriers, causing them to have lower wages. Therefore, the groups that understood and spoke the English language had and increased advantage of income success than those that didn't.

Audelina Madrid Soc 111

Audelina Madrid (500, words)

April 15, 2018

Soc 111

Professor Timothy Kubal

Inequality

The required article for this section is African, Hispanic, and White Beliefs about Black/ White Inequality,1997-2004. This article analyses data from 1997 to 2004 from the General Social Surveys and it is looking for answers regarding the socioeconomic status gap between Blacks and Whites. The authors investigate many factors that may contribute to the gap and they also involved non-White Hispanics opinion on this issue. For one of the surveys the author compares the socioeconomic status of Blacks and Non-Hispanic White to see what were some factors that contribute to the differences of their socioeconomic status. One important thing that the researchers found out is that racism has decline but they still found a grate disadvantages in some areas such as jobs and housing for the Black community. The data also shows that Hispanics are in a different socioeconomic status than blacks and Whites, but the data tables show that Hispanics stand in the middle of the gap between Blacks and Whites socioeconomic status. Table one of the data shows factors that affect the socioeconomic gap, which some are education, gender, religion and three other ones. Table two explains how each factor affect each group and it shows that African Americans still lack from self-motivation.

One of the articles that I read about inequality is Jobs, Poverty, and Earnings in American Metropolises: Do Immigrants Really Hurt the Economic Outcomes of Blacks? The authors of the article wanted to find out if immigrant do take the jobs from African Americans in metropolitan areas. So, they saw data from 1980's and 1990's to see what some of the problems were that involved these two groups. They found out that immigrants from that time did take the jobs from African Americans, but those immigrants were from India, Europe and Russia to name a few. The authors of this article used current data from the 2000 census and they also did stratified random sample from a metropolitan area of about 150 persons. They also change the independent variable and the dependent variable. They came up with three different graphs to explain the different variables. In the first graph explains some factors that might affect the outcome of the survey, the second graph explains the factors that may cause a Black person from not getting a better job than an immigrant and the jobs that African American don't like to do. The third graph explains how immigrants don't take the jobs from Africans and rather make help African Americans get better paying jobs in the metropolitan areas.

Both articles talk about Blacks socioeconomic status and which factors are responsible for it. They also mention how after many years of segregation in the work place Blacks still must face many challenges because of their race or ethnic background. Blacks and Non- White Hispanics are becoming powerful minority groups, but it is very depressing that Non-White Hispanics are not well represented in social surveys.   

Adriana Chavez

Adriana Chavez

Word Count:525

Inequality Quiz

The article, "African American, Hispanic, and White Beliefs about Black/White Inequality" explores how Hispanics, Blacks, and Whites feel about the gap of inequality between blacks and whites. This research gathered data from the General Social Surveys (GSS) that run from 1977-2004 to determine if the beliefs of people of people that include non-Hispanics has changed when it comes to black/white inequality from the 1990's to the early 2000's. It's important to note that participants of these surveys went from 1,000 (1970's) to 3,000(2004) whose demographic consisted of 18 years and above, which yielded high respondence rates (74-84%). The evaluation of the data took into consideration dependent and independent variables. The dependent variables considered questions like the causes of the differences that cause blacks to have lower incomes, jobs, etc. when compared to whites. Four options were then given to respond yes or no to; A. related to discrimination, B. related to in-born ability, C. related to the opportunity at education, and D. related to motivation of the black individual. Two of the options were "person-centered" and the other two were "Structuralist." Findings showed that whites and blacks who answered yes to the structuralist options were in the high 60 percentage wise while Hispanics show a lower 60 percentage. In the case of those who answered yes to person-centered options, Whites came at the highest with 88.6% and Hispanics and Blacks had a difference of 2.2 percent with the former at 81% and the latter at 79.2%. Conversely, "no" answers to structuralism and person-centered yielded lower percentage rates and were not aligned like the yes answers. In all this, the independent variables (coded identification) measured were race and age(years). Overall, evaluations showed that non-Hispanics continue to believe less, that the cause of inequality among whites/blacks has to do with the person while the belief seems to be increasing with whites.

The article, "Race, Ethnicity and the Quality of Life in America, 1972-2008" looks at how one's race/ethnicity plays a role in the sense of the life people live. To measure this in a conceptualized way an ordinal scale and partial proportional odds model whose date is taken from (GSS) were used. The things that researchers used to determine the quality of race/ethnicities were martial happiness, overall happiness, health status, and trust (dependent variables). Although religious attendance was not a factor measured it did seem to have a significant in how participants felt about their overall happiness. Independent variables important to this study was race. Findings showed that whites continue to lead a better-quality life than their African American counterparts and the gap is significant which was true even years back. An interesting factor that contributes to black individual's overall happiness was when they gained something whereas when a person had they a lose they experienced a diminished sense of trust. Unsurprisingly, other races and Latinos had a lower quality of life than Whites. In the case of Latinos, researchers theorize that the lower quality of life may be due to this could be because many Latinos may identify as white. However, the problem with using conceptualized models to determine the quality of life of different races is that people experience things different, perceive it differently, and traits of people within communities are harder to measure.