How do White members of Black-White interracial families negotiate the meanings of race, and particularly Whiteness? Inspired by W. E. B. Du Bois's concept of double consciousness, this article argues that interracial intimacy is a microlevel political site where White people can acquire a critical analytical lens that we conceptualize as racial literacy. This article fills a gap in the empirical and theoretical literature on race and Whiteness by including gay, lesbian, and heterosexual families on both sides of the Atlantic. Drawing on two ethnographic research projects involving one hundred and twenty-one interracial families in the United Kingdom and the eastern United States, we provide an analysis of how White people learn to translate racial codes, decipher racial structures, and manage the racial climate in their communities. We draw on "racial consciousness" interviews conducted with one hundred and one heterosexual families and twenty gay and lesbian families to present seven portraits that illuminate three dimensions of racial literacy: double consciousness, negotiation of local racial meanings, and seeing routine forms of everyday racism.
Sexuality scholars largely neglect interracial intimacy in the United States as a site worthy of sustained empirical research. Consequently, monoraciality is not adequately problematized or identified as a racial prerequisite to fundamental heterosexual privileges. Further, by implicitly constructing same-sex couples as monoracial, scholars fail to consider how heterosexuality and White supremacy together saturate public spaces to render queer interraciality profoundly invisible. In this essay I critique the monoracial bias of sexuality research by analyzing interracial narratives on the topic of visibility. Using in-depth qualitative interviews with four heterosexual and four same-sex interracial couples, I argue that for interracial partners a paradoxical tension surrounds visibility. Though couples may seek public affirmation of intimate relationships, for both heterosexual and queer interracial couples, public recognition risks harassment or violence.
In this article, the authors operationalize the intersection of gender and race in survey research. Using quantitative data from the Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality, they investigate how gender/racial stereotypes about African Americans affect Whites' attitudes about two types of affirmative action programs: (1) job training and education and (2) hiring and promotion. The authors find that gender/racial prejudice towards Black women and Black men influences Whites' opposition to affirmative action at different levels than negative attitudes towards Blacks as a group. Prejudice toward Black women has a larger effect on Whites'policy preferences than does prejudice toward Black men or Blacks in general. In future research, survey methodologists should develop better intersectional measures to further document these gender/racial attitudes.
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Social capital is broadly beneficial, but parents reap particular benefits from network ties. Schools are key organizations through which parents develop ties. In this article, we examine school-based networks that provide valuable resources. What factors are associated with greater access to key resources such as child care, parenting advice, and educational information? Using network data from mothers of eighth graders, we employ qualitative comparative analysis to examine mothers’ status and network characteristics associated with two types of resource access— basic access, where resources are accessed through a single parent, and robust access, where resources are accessed through multiple parents. We find that particular combinations of status and network characteristics are critical. A wide range of mothers attain basic access, but race and socioeconomic status constrain robust access. These findings raise important questions about relational patterns and resource access for parents within a racially and socioeconomically diverse school.
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