Customer Reviews

Being Black, Living in the Red: Race, Wealth, and Social Policy in America

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is both meticulous and very clearly written. Every time I had, while reading Conley's analysis, a nagging question in the back of my head, he went on to address it in far more detail than had even occurred to me.

Perhaps because of this thoroughness, _Being Black, Living in the Red_ fundamentally altered the way I think about certain social policies, and about race and wealth in general. It also interested me in sociology of inequality, a field about which I had known nothing. The book is incredibly informative about a matter of great public importance, but I appreciated that Conley seemed wary of overstating his case. I truly felt I was getting an honest, and extremely skillful, evaluation of the evidence.

Under the circumstances, I'd be hard pressed to do anything but advise you to read this book at the first chance you get.

What would the USA be like today if former slaves had were given the elusive "40 acres and a mule"? How are the black poor in America different from the white poor everywhere? Although I haven't yet read this book, I am familiar with the dissertation on which it was based. This book is a definate must read for anyone with an interest in poverty, ethnic studies or our modern power structure. Conley successfully anayzes the connection between poverty and property that will no doubt leave many readers with a fresh perspective on the hows and whys of many "underclass" issues. I am anxiously to read this updated version.

This is a compilation of hard data that answers the author of the "Bell Curve." Conley rephrases old arguments about wealth and race. In this book, he puts stereotypes of the African American to rest.

It finally answers the race/financial inequity question I have had my entire life, but couldn't quite put my finger on or articulate. Via non-academic prose and statistical analysis it touches a very sensitive and raw subject that has never been addressed in a way that seemed petinent to my life as this book does. This answers questions I have had my entire life.

I originally purchased this book when it came out about 7 years ago and just reread it again. It provides great insight into the inequality between races in this country. Highly recommended.

This book expands the research base that identifies wealth as a key component of mobility, and an important factor that explains why blacks and whites have divergent outcomes. However, Conley may be overemphasizing the role of wealth, and forgeting that race is still a critical issues. In fact, his models show that wealth is only a small part of the story. A great deal of the unexplained variance in Conley's models may be attributed to discrimination in society. Although Conley mentions this briefly, more attention needs to focus on this aspect the issue. Nevertheless, the discussions of wealth are rich and well developed, making this an important addition to the literature.

This book is especially attractive for two important reasons: first, it offers an empirically informed judgment of the view that race and race effects on outcomes such as income can be wholly reduced to class and class effects. Second, it expands usual measures of socioeconomic status beyond education, occupational status, and income, to include personal wealth.

However, the author's execution of his project, while informative and well written, is given to over-interpretation and, in some instances, it seems fair to say, misinterpretation. In truth, while race and class are not statistically coterminous, the role of personal wealth in the status attainment process is weak to non-existent. In summing up his ambitious analysis, however, the author loses sight of this and makes unsubstantiated claims for the efficacy of personal wealth.

Nevertheless, this remains a good read. I suppose my disappointment stems largely from the fact that personal wealth was not a more effective addition to the usual socioeconomic composite. I thought the author was really on to something, but not in this analysis. Still, this is an engagingly ambitious book that any student of social stratification would benefit from reading.

I was at my host's house at this book was on his table. I spent the whole weeking reading Conley's eye opening work on in-equality. This book is an absolute must for any person who lives in today's world. Of course, it should be an absolute must for our universities.

This is truly a groundbreaking book. Dalton Conley finally reveals the key element on pg. 118 in two unassuming little words: reserve stock. This is, ladies and gentlemen of the judging class, what separates the races and classes, NOT skin color or intelligence level. In the absence of such, no one can truly believe (except in fairy tales) that most people can overcome grinding poverty and helplessness to become productive members of society. Aside from mere technical support, that cherished "reserve stock" allows one entrance into arenas not usually penetrable via associations with those generous enough to usher one in. Trying to overcome the obstacles of poverty is like trying to drag a car without snow tires up a steep hill. I commend the youthful yet astute Dalton Conley for his valuable work.

The analysis is sound. This is to say, the examination of the relevant history and current structures, coupled with an examination of effects, is accurate and valid. However, the argument for implications is unsound - dangerously so. It seems that those driven to understand precisely why some people are faced with more challenges than others are usually willing to go the next step - to argue for engineered adjustments, blind to the fact that such programs engineer even more odious, systematic inequities.