People often think of social change in the lives of American children since the 1950s as a movement in one direction – from children being raised in married, male-breadwinner families to a new norm of children being raised by working mothers, many of them unmarried. Instead, we can better understand this transformation as an explosion of diversity, a fanning out from a compact center along many different pathways.
Topics of Expertise: Economic Inequality / TANF & Public Assistance
By Velma McBride Murry and Na Liu Vanderbilt University In 1963, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington, the momentous demonstration that helped spur passage of the Civil Rights Act the following year. He described African Americans as living “on a lonely island […]
Topics of Expertise: African American Families / Economic Inequality / Race, Ethnicity & Culture
Overview: Changing Racial-Ethnic Realities since the Civil Rights Act Remarks by: Stephanie Coontz Today the Council on Contemporary Families releases the second set of papers in a three part symposium marking the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. Yesterday researchers described the rearrangement of America’s religious landscape over the past half century. Today’s four […]
Topics of Expertise: African American Families / Economic Inequality / Immigrant, Mixed Status & Transnational Families / Latino Families / Race, Ethnicity & Culture
By Rogelio Sáenz University of Texas at San Antonio Latinos are increasingly driving the demographic fortunes of the United States. Between 2000 and 2011, the number of white children in the country declined by 4.9 million, a decrease of 11 percent. Blacks and American Indians and Alaska Natives also saw their child populations decline. The […]
Topics of Expertise: Child Welfare / Childcare (Providers & Systems) / Economic Inequality / Latino Families / Race, Ethnicity & Culture
Why are divorce rates higher in religiously conservative “red” states and lower in less religiously conservative “blue” states? After all, most conservatives frown upon divorce, and religious commitment is believed to strengthen marriage, not erode it. Even so, religiously conservative states Alabama and Arkansas have the second and third highest divorce rates in the U.S., at 13 per 1000 people per year while New Jersey and Massachusetts, more liberal states, are two of the lowest at 6 and 7 per 1000 people per year.
Topics of Expertise: Couples Conflict, Separation & Divorce / Economic Inequality
This month marks the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s declaration of an “unconditional war on poverty.” Yet this month also marks over a quarter century since President Ronald Reagan’s 1988 announcement that the war on poverty was over, and that poverty had won. In this report, University of Maryland sociologist Philip Cohen examines the many early victories, as well as the setbacks in the War on Poverty.
Topics of Expertise: Child Welfare / Economic Inequality / Marriage & Divorce / TANF & Public AssistanceThis month marks the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s declaration of an “unconditional war on poverty.” Yet this month also marks over a quarter century since President Ronald Reagan’s 1988 announcement that the war on poverty was over, and that poverty had won. Many politicians blame the resurgence of poverty on the spread of unwed motherhood and conclude that promoting marriage among low-income individuals would do more to reduce poverty than government investments. In this report, Ohio State University sociologist Kristi Williams examines how efforts to get impoverished single mothers to marry are unlikely to make much of a dent in poverty rates and may even have some harmful outcomes for mothers and children alike.
Topics of Expertise: Child Welfare / Economic Inequality / TANF & Public AssistanceThis month marks the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s declaration of an “unconditional war on poverty.” Yet this month also marks over a quarter century since President Ronald Reagan’s 1988 announcement that the war on poverty was over, and that poverty had won. To mark the anniversaries of these very different points in the government’s role in poverty reduction, two researchers from the Council on Contemporary Families assess where we have come from and where we stand today.
Topics of Expertise: Child Welfare / Economic Inequality / Marriage & Divorce / TANF & Public Assistance
Fifty years ago this week, on June 10, 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, amending the earlier Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, to “prohibit discrimination on account of sex in the payment of wages by employers.” So, how’s that going?
Topics of Expertise: Economic Inequality / Gender & Sexuality / Labor & Workforce / Race, Ethnicity & Culture / Work & Family
On average, white women earn 81 percent of what white men make. At first glance it may appear that there is more gender equality among minority men and women than among whites. Hispanic or Latina women make 88 percent of what Latinos do and African American women make 90 percent of what their male counterparts make. But when we add race to gender, these pay gaps become a veritable chasm. Read more to find out.
Topics of Expertise: Economic Inequality / Gender & Sexuality / Race, Ethnicity & Culture
Professor of Economics, School of Public Policy UMass Amherst; Williams Institute UCLA
Associate Professor and Faculty Director of the Master of Science in Social Policy program, University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice
Professor and Interim Department Chair of Policy Analysis and Management, Director of the Cornell Population Center, Cornell University
Professor of Psychology & Director of Center for Research on Families, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Professor, Department of Sociology & Population Studies Center, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Boston University Medical School; Center for Multicultural Training in Psychology, Boston Medical Center; American Family Therapy Academy; Boston Center for Culturally Affirming Practices
Professor of Family & Consumer Studies and Adjunct Professor of Sociology, University of Utah
