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5 - Choice, Circumstance, or Both?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2023

Kris Marsh
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
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Summary

Chapter 5 highlights that a large share of the singlehood scholarship draws little attention to the race or class dimensions of this demographic shift of the rise in singlehood. Collectively, Chapter 5 argues that the singlehood scholarship overlooks how systemic inequalities, including racism and gendered racism, shape singlehood among Black adults – especially Black women. Such shortcomings are particularly relevant when it comes to looking at whether Black individuals are single through choice or circumstance (or both), and what the implications of this are for the Love Jones Cohort particularly and the Black middle-class more generally. Chapter 5 looks at the degree to whether the women and men of the Love Jones Cohort chose their SALA status, and how systemic inequalities, institutional constraints, and societal pressures play a role in such decision-making (or lack thereof), particularly among the Cohort’s women. Chapter 5 suggests that while many hope or anticipate that they will one day marry and so leave the Cohort, this is not something they are willing to pay any price to achieve – and introduces the term “respectability singleness.”

Type
Chapter
Information
The Love Jones Cohort
Single and Living Alone in the Black Middle Class
, pp. 73 - 82
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • Choice, Circumstance, or Both?
  • Kris Marsh, University of Maryland, College Park
  • Book: The Love Jones Cohort
  • Online publication: 02 February 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316672754.007
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  • Choice, Circumstance, or Both?
  • Kris Marsh, University of Maryland, College Park
  • Book: The Love Jones Cohort
  • Online publication: 02 February 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316672754.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Choice, Circumstance, or Both?
  • Kris Marsh, University of Maryland, College Park
  • Book: The Love Jones Cohort
  • Online publication: 02 February 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316672754.007
Available formats
×