ABSTRACT
In 1965, Daniel Patrick Moynihan argued, “… ours is a society which presumes male leader-ship in public and private affairs. The arrangements of society facilitate such leadership and reward it. A subculture such as that of the Negro American, in which this is not the pattern, is placed at a distinct disadvantage” (1965: 75). Thus began our modern engagement with racialized patriarchy. Thirty-five years later, in the revised cultural problem approach, Representative Jessie Jackson Jr. (a black male) argued, “Violent criminals are overwhelmingly males who grew up without fathers and the best predictor of crime in a community is the percentage of absent father households.” He concludes, “… states should be encouraged, not restricted, from implementing programs that provide support for responsible fatherhood, promote marriage, and increase the incidence of marriage” (U.S. House 2000). In 2001, President George W. Bush continued the racialized patriarchy movement of promoting marriage and fatherhood. President Bush’s approach to institutionalizing patriarchy among the black poor involves spending $1.5 billion over five years to strengthen and promote marriage. The money would be spent on activities such as the development of interpersonal skills, designed to promote healthy marriages, especially among the poor. These marriage initiatives have been embraced at the state level. Indeed many states are utilizing welfare funds to support these programs.1 Senator Moynihan, Representative Jackson, and President George W. Bush employ a “cultural deficiency” model in their analyses of female solo parenting. Employing this model allows for the argument that government should play the role of ensuring that black women follow a pre-determined patriarchal norm-what Dorothy Smith (1993) refers to as the Standard North American family.
