Family Socialization, Race, and Inequality in the United States

Dawn P. Witherspoon, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology and former McCourtney Early Career Professor of Psychology at Penn State. Dr. Witherspoon is also the Director of PACT, Parents and Children Together, a community-university partnership to enhance the lives of diverse children, youth, and families in the greater Harrisburg, PA region. Her research focuses on the ways in which families and youth are influenced by the contexts in which they are embedded, particularly focusing on how neighborhood, family, and race/ethnicity-related factors affect adolescents' academic, psycho-social, and behavioral well-being.

Susan M. McHale, Ph.D., is Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Human Development and Professor of Demography at Penn State. Her research focuses on children's and adolescents' family roles, relationships, and daily experiences and how these family dynamics are linked to youth development and adjustment. Dr. McHale's research highlights family gender dynamics and the role of sociocultural practices and values in youth development and well-being.

Valarie King, Ph.D., is Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Demography, and Human Development and Family Studies and an Associate of the Population Research Institute at Penn State. Her research focuses on intergenerational relationships across the life course and their implications for the health, well-being, and development of family members. Dr. King's most recent work focuses on elucidating the factors that promote the development of strong ties between children and their stepfathers, and the ways in which stepfathers can promote children's well-being.

This book examines the ways in which families can address racial and ethnic inequalities and racism and the impacts of these systems on health, education, and other family and family member outcomes. It addresses the historical context of race and racism in the United States, ethnic-racial socialization in families of color, and White parents' attitudes and practices related to antiracist socialization. Chapters describe structural racism, debunk the myth of racial progress, and explore the representation of race and racism in family research; provide a historical account of ethnic-racial socialization literature, propose a model of ethnic-racial socialization of Latinx families; describe how racial socialization can be used therapeutically; and address White normativity, expand models of White racial socialization and learning, and grapple with the complexities of antiracist socialization. Finally, the volume offers recommendations for the field of family research to meaningfully include race and racism as well as provides suggestions for translational work in this area related to policies, programs, and practice.

Featured areas of coverage include:

• Ethnic and racial socialization among families of color.
• White racial socialization and racial learning.
• Antiracist socialization.
• Opportunities for family research on race and racism to be used to enhance family policies and intervention programming.

Family Socialization, Race, and Inequality in the United States is a must-have resource for researchers, professors, clinicians, professionals, and graduate students in developmental psychology, family studies, and sociology, as well as interrelated disciplines, including demography, social work, prevention science, public health, educational policy, political science, and economics.

Part I. Race and Racism in the United States.- Chapter 2: The Myth of Racial Progress in Post-Race America.- Chapter 3: Race and Racism in Family Research.- Part II. Racial/Ethnic Socialization in Families of Color.- Chapter 4: Reflections on the Emergence of a Research Literature on Ethnic-Racial Socialization: Getting to Here.- Chapter 5: Racial/Ethnic Socialization in Latinx Families: Cultural Resilience and Coping.- Chapter 6: Therapeutic Use of Racial Socialization for Families of Color and Clinicians.- Part III. Antiracist Socialization in White Families.- Chapter 7: Upending White Normativity in Parenting Research .- Chapter 8: White Families' Communications About Racism and Politics: Expanding Theories of White Racial Socialization and Racial Learning.- Chapter 9: Expert-Guided Antiracism Among Progressive White Parents: The Promise and Limits of Antiracist White Parenting.- Part IV. Conclusions and Future Directions.- Chapter 10: Reconsidering Family Ethnic/Racial Socialization: Challenges, Progress, and Directions for Future Research.