Faded Dreams

The Politics and Economics of Race in America

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by Martin Carnoy

Cambridge University Press

Due/Published August 1996, 296 pages, paper

ISBN 0521576393

Faded Dreams paints a new and challenging picture of how racial inequality has evolved in America. Martin Carnoy shows that three dominant views of economic differences between blacks and whites--that blacks are individually responsible for not taking advantage of market opportunities, that the world economy has changed in ways that puts blacks at a tremendous disadvantage compared to whites, and that pervasive racism is holding blacks down--do not adequately explain why blacks made such large gains in the past and stopped making them in the 1980s and 1990s. Using a systematic analysis of fifty years of data on income, education, and the variety of jobs that both blacks and whites have held, Faded Dreams offers a powerful argument for active government intervention to improve the education and living conditions of disadvantaged black children.

Contents

1. Introduction; 2. The ups and downs of African-American fortunes; 3. The politics of explaining inequality; 4. Are blacks to blame?; 5. Is the economy to blame?; 6. Has racism and discrimination increased?; 7. Politics and black educational opportunity; 8. Politics and black job opportunities (I); 9. Politics and black job opportunities (II); 10. Black economic gains and ideology: The White House factor; 11. Any hope for greater equality?