Most studies on racial inequality begin with a series of statistics highlighting racial variations in an outcome of interest to illustrate how wide (or narrow) the gaps between racialized groups are. This approach is standard in racial inequality research because emphasizing racial differentials between racialized groups help researchers frame inequality as a social problem. Scholars across academic disciplines and across sub-areas within sociology report racial statistics to
pay attention to what social scientists refer to as racial disparities.

Presenting racial disparities is extremely important for documenting inequality; however, family scholars tend to provide descriptive statistical portraits along ethno-racial
lines (disparities) in the absence of racism, which, in turn, conceals the United States’ racialized historical context. The purpose of this presentation is to provide conceptual and analytical considerations for future racial inequality and family research by recasting disparities as manifestations of racism instead of mere statistical differences.

This talk is part of the Inclusive Research Matters Series at the Institute for Social Research.