Inherited Inequality

Inherited Inequality is a must-read for anyone concerned with the dynamics of racial inequality. Drawing on high-quality data and rigorous analysis, sociologist Christina Cross shows that even Black children raised in the ideal two-parent household will face more obstacles in life and bear real disadvantages over the life course compared with their white peers. It decisively upends assumptions about family structure that have shaped our public policy for decades. – Lawrence D. Bobo, Harvard UniversityThis book is especially timely as politicians roll back social equity programs, claiming that married parents are all it takes for kids to succeed. But Cross convincingly demonstrates that the same racial and economic inequalities that make marriage less common among Black Americans also make the many marriages that do occur less economically and educationally advantageous for Black children. – Stephanie Coontz, author of The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia TrapWhy is our country’s racial policy fixated on ‘marriage promotion’ when what really matters is access to high-quality schools, amenity-rich neighborhoods, and other mobility-generating resources? In Inherited Inequality, Christina Cross shows that pro-marriage policy is the ‘great distracter,’ deflecting our attention from the real sources of unequal opportunity and preventing us from building policy targeted to causes. A brilliant demonstration of the payoff to a steely-eyed focus on the data. – David B. Grusky, author of Social Stratification: Race, Class, and Gender in Sociological PerspectiveThis is the book I’ve been waiting for! Through rigorous analyses, Christina Cross not only challenges the promotion of two-parent families as the cure-all for America’s ills but also shines a bright light on the real solutions needed to advance equity and justice for Black families in America. – Bethany Letiecq, President of the National Council on Family RelationsBeautifully written and brilliantly argued, Inherited Inequality combats racial stereotypes with real statistics. Marriage is presented to all American families, and especially to Black families, as a panacea for a multitude of social ills. Yet Cross reveals in intimate detail how even two parents cannot shield their children from the weight of American racism and exclusion. As inviting as it is informative, this book is a wakeup call to examine the legacy of our most entrenched racial inequalities. – Anthony Abraham Jack, author of Class Dismissed: When Colleges Ignore Inequality and Students Pay the Price

Christina J. Cross is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Harvard University. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times and leading sociology journals.