ABSTRACT
For the last 30 years a wide range of social science research has debated the relative importance of racial and economic factors as determinants of family structure, crime, unemployment, and school achievement (Coleman et al., 1966; Jencks, 1972). Wilson (1987) argued that the heated controversy following the Moynihan report resulted in many social scientists withdrawing from research that examined the degree to which social and economic characteristics of the African-American population may be attributed to race culture, racial discrimination, and/or socioeconomic status (Jencks & Peterson, 1991). Very generally, public policy recommendations that have emerged from this research have been in one of two forms: the first have advocated specific remedial policies directed at the African-American community (e.g., affirmative action, racial desegregation), whereas the second have been neutral with regard to race, arguing that there are generic conditions (e.g., concentrations of urban poverty) affecting all racial and ethnic groups that must be addressed (Lawson, 1992).
