PLAY PODCASTS
‘Inherited Inequality’ Challenges the Idea That Two-Parent Homes Are Key to Kids’ Success

‘Inherited Inequality’ Challenges the Idea That Two-Parent Homes Are Key to Kids’ Success

We talk about how the two-parent paradigm became the standard.

KQED's Forum

September 23, 202555m 49s

Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (podtrac.com) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.

Show Notes

For decades, policy makers, politicians, and experts have blamed an absence of Black fathers as the reason Black children tend to not fare as well as white children. That reasoning has led to a lot of public policy pushing the two-parent family structure. In her new book, “Inherited Inequality: Why Opportunity Gaps Persist between Black and White Youth Raised in Two-Parent Families,” Harvard Sociologist Christina Cross argues that this claim is a distraction from addressing the systemic inequities that hold kids back such as racial discrimination in the housing market, schools and workplaces. We talk with Cross about how the two-parent paradigm became the standard and when that premise becomes harmful.


Guests:

Christina Cross, associate professor of sociology, Harvard University - author of, "Inherited Inequality: Why Opportunity Gaps Persist between Black and White Youth Raised in Two-Parent Families"

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices