 Moynihan Was Right: Now What?Ron Haskins
The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2009, vol. 621, issue 1, 281-314 Abstract: In 1965, Daniel Patrick Moynihan predicted that the exposure of so many black children, especially males, to fatherless families would prevent many from seizing new opportunities through the civil rights revolution. Although Moynihan was excoriated in the academic world and beyond, subsequent events have proven him correct. Today, in part because of the continuing demise of married-couple families, the average black is far behind the average white in educational achievement, employment rates, and earnings; blacks also have much higher crime and incarceration rates. These outcomes have led to growing recognition that the promise of the civil rights revolution will not be achieved until the black family is repaired. This article proposes a series of policies intended to increase and reward work, reduce nonmarital births and increase marriage rates, expand preschool education, and reduce incarceration rates and integrate former prisoners back into society—all designed to reduce lone parenting or deal with its effects. Keywords: Daniel Patrick Moynihan; The Negro Family; family structure; employment opportunities; preschool education; incarceration (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:621:y:2009:i:1:p:281-314 Access Statistics for this article More articles in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |
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