Campus Units
Human Development and Family Studies
Document Type
Book Review
Publication Version
Accepted Manuscript
Publication Date
12-14-2012
Journal or Book Title
Journal of Family Theory & Review
Volume
4
Issue
4
First Page
355
Last Page
357
DOI
10.1111/j.1756-2589.2012.00145.x
Abstract
Ralph Richard Banks makes a substantial contribution to the field of Black relationships, and marriage in general, with the book Is Marriage for White People? How the African American Marriage Decline Affects Everyone. Banks synthesizes research from law, sociology, and public health (to name a few) in his presentation of issues salient to the changing landscape of relationship formation and maintenance. To offer concrete examples of relationship issues and to provide evidence to support his claims, Banks revisits well‐known passages from popular movies and fictional literature and integrates examples from qualitative interviews he conducted with single Black women in their 30s and 40s. In this review, I describe four central issues that Banks addresses—similarities in marriage trends across groups, the pattern of marrying down but not out, challenges linked to gender relations, and relationship transiency—and discuss what I view as three limitations of the book.
Copyright Owner
National Council on Family Relations
Copyright Date
2012
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Hurt, Tera R., "Synthesizing and Focusing the Debate" (2012). Human Development and Family Studies Publications. 125.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/hdfs_pubs/125
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Family Law Commons, Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons
Comments
This book review is published as Hurt, T. R. (2012). Synthesizing and focusing the debate. Journal of Family Theory and Review, 4 (4), 355-358. DOI: 10.1111/j.1756-2589.2012.00145.x. Posted with permission.