ABSTRACT
The social and economic gains achieved by black families during the 1960s were severely eroded during the seventies and eighties. The major economic trends that affected black families adversely during the seventies and eighties were: back-to-back recessions, double-digit inflation, and industrial and population shifts. Institutionalized discrimination refers to laws, regulations, policies and informal practices of organizations or institutions that result in differential adverse treatment or subordination of racial and ethnic minorities. Societal trends and policies may manifest themselves in four patterns: intentional discrimination, unintentional discrimination, intentional benevolence and unintentional benevolence. Although numerous investigators have found a strong correlation between black unemployment and family instability, there appears to be a strong reluctance on the part of many economic analysts to assess systematically the impact of recessions on black family instability. The stereotypical portrayal of black families, based on the deficit model, by the media, policymakers and social scientists is an example of institutionalized prejudice.
