Charles C. Ragin and Peer C. Fiss
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226414379
- eISBN:
- 9780226414546
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226414546.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Methodology and Statistics
The examination of coinciding advantages versus disadvantages is extended in chapter 6 to encompass multiple inequalities. Specifically, we examine the degree to which parental income, parental ...
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The examination of coinciding advantages versus disadvantages is extended in chapter 6 to encompass multiple inequalities. Specifically, we examine the degree to which parental income, parental education, respondent’s education, and respondent’s test scores coincide, using multiple calibrations of these four conditions. We again show that the intersectionality of these inequalities has a distinctly racial pattern. We first demonstrate that the coincidence of advantages is much higher for whites than for blacks, with whites registering a higher coincidence of four advantages than blacks register for two advantages. In parallel fashion, we show that the coincidence of disadvantages is much higher for blacks than for whites, with blacks registering a higher coincidence of four disadvantages than whites register for two disadvantages. We show further that whites’ high coincidence of advantages is coupled with a low coincidence of disadvantages, while the opposite is true for blacks. Chapter 6 also examines the set-theoretic connections between combinations of advantages and avoiding poverty and between combinations of disadvantages and experiencing poverty. By far, the strongest and most consistent connection is between multiple advantages and avoiding poverty, a connection that is especially strong for whites.Less
The examination of coinciding advantages versus disadvantages is extended in chapter 6 to encompass multiple inequalities. Specifically, we examine the degree to which parental income, parental education, respondent’s education, and respondent’s test scores coincide, using multiple calibrations of these four conditions. We again show that the intersectionality of these inequalities has a distinctly racial pattern. We first demonstrate that the coincidence of advantages is much higher for whites than for blacks, with whites registering a higher coincidence of four advantages than blacks register for two advantages. In parallel fashion, we show that the coincidence of disadvantages is much higher for blacks than for whites, with blacks registering a higher coincidence of four disadvantages than whites register for two disadvantages. We show further that whites’ high coincidence of advantages is coupled with a low coincidence of disadvantages, while the opposite is true for blacks. Chapter 6 also examines the set-theoretic connections between combinations of advantages and avoiding poverty and between combinations of disadvantages and experiencing poverty. By far, the strongest and most consistent connection is between multiple advantages and avoiding poverty, a connection that is especially strong for whites.
Charles C. Ragin and Peer C. Fiss
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226414379
- eISBN:
- 9780226414546
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226414546.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Methodology and Statistics
The Bell Curve focuses on the competition between two independent variables, family background and test scores. Chapter 5 addresses the Bell Curve directly, assessing the set-theoretic connections ...
More
The Bell Curve focuses on the competition between two independent variables, family background and test scores. Chapter 5 addresses the Bell Curve directly, assessing the set-theoretic connections between family background--especially parental income--and test scores, on the one hand, and poverty, on the other. Our results reveal a distinct pattern of racial confounding that is hidden in conventional analyses, namely a strong connection between advantages and avoiding poverty for whites and a strong connection between disadvantages and experiencing poverty for blacks. Specifically, we document very strong connections for white males and white females between not-low-income-parents and not-low-test-scores, on the one hand, and avoiding poverty, on the other. These same connections for blacks are much weaker. However, blacks exhibit a strong shared-antecedent connection between not-high-income-parents and not-high-test-scores, on the one hand, and experiencing poverty, on the other. Our findings are thus fundamentally different from the insights offered in the Bell Curve, suggesting a clear pattern of racial differences in the connection between family background and poverty.Less
The Bell Curve focuses on the competition between two independent variables, family background and test scores. Chapter 5 addresses the Bell Curve directly, assessing the set-theoretic connections between family background--especially parental income--and test scores, on the one hand, and poverty, on the other. Our results reveal a distinct pattern of racial confounding that is hidden in conventional analyses, namely a strong connection between advantages and avoiding poverty for whites and a strong connection between disadvantages and experiencing poverty for blacks. Specifically, we document very strong connections for white males and white females between not-low-income-parents and not-low-test-scores, on the one hand, and avoiding poverty, on the other. These same connections for blacks are much weaker. However, blacks exhibit a strong shared-antecedent connection between not-high-income-parents and not-high-test-scores, on the one hand, and experiencing poverty, on the other. Our findings are thus fundamentally different from the insights offered in the Bell Curve, suggesting a clear pattern of racial differences in the connection between family background and poverty.
Charles C. Ragin and Peer C. Fiss
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226414379
- eISBN:
- 9780226414546
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226414546.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Methodology and Statistics
The central analytic focus of most policy-oriented social research today is the assessment of the relative importance of competing independent variables in multivariate analyses. A researcher might ...
More
The central analytic focus of most policy-oriented social research today is the assessment of the relative importance of competing independent variables in multivariate analyses. A researcher might ask: “Which variable has the strongest impact on life chances: education, test scores, or family background?” In this book we offer an alternative to the conventional approach to the analysis of policy-relevant social data. Instead of asking, "What is the net effect of each independent variable on the outcome?" we ask, "What combinations of causally relevant conditions are consistently linked to the outcome?" Thus, in our approach causal conditions do not compete with each other; rather, they combine in different ways to produce the outcome. This alternate approach, which utilizes set-analytic techniques, allows for the possibility that there may be several paths to the same outcome, which in turn may differ by race and gender. We illustrate this new approach via a re-analysis of the Bell Curve data. We show that by viewing cases intersectionally and causes conjuncturally, researchers can address nuanced questions about the causal conditions linked to poverty. Our central findings demonstrate dramatic racial differences in the connections between advantages versus disadvantages and the experience versus the avoidance of poverty.Less
The central analytic focus of most policy-oriented social research today is the assessment of the relative importance of competing independent variables in multivariate analyses. A researcher might ask: “Which variable has the strongest impact on life chances: education, test scores, or family background?” In this book we offer an alternative to the conventional approach to the analysis of policy-relevant social data. Instead of asking, "What is the net effect of each independent variable on the outcome?" we ask, "What combinations of causally relevant conditions are consistently linked to the outcome?" Thus, in our approach causal conditions do not compete with each other; rather, they combine in different ways to produce the outcome. This alternate approach, which utilizes set-analytic techniques, allows for the possibility that there may be several paths to the same outcome, which in turn may differ by race and gender. We illustrate this new approach via a re-analysis of the Bell Curve data. We show that by viewing cases intersectionally and causes conjuncturally, researchers can address nuanced questions about the causal conditions linked to poverty. Our central findings demonstrate dramatic racial differences in the connections between advantages versus disadvantages and the experience versus the avoidance of poverty.