Chapter 4

Summary

Chapter four discusses the various strengths and stresses that racial and ethnic families encounter. This topic is particularly relevant because U.S. households are becoming increasingly diverse, specifically due to the growing number and variety of immigrants. Today, immigrants come primarily from Asia and Latin America. This chapter also explains minority groups as well as race and ethnicity. Latino, African American, Asian American, Middle Eastern, and American Indians are often described as minorities. In addition, the number of multiracial Americans is rising due to increasing interracial and interethnic marriages. Race and ethnicity are the two most common characteristics that differentiate minority groups from dominant groups. Minorities tend to lack economic and political power due to racism, prejudice, and discrimination.

African American families are similar to other American families in that they are heterogeneous. They vary in kinship structure, gender roles, parent-child relationships, and social class. However, many African American families have strong kinship bonds, the ability to adapt family roles, and a strong work ethic as well as spirituality.

American Indian families are also very diverse; they speak many different languages and practice different religions and customs. However, one of their unique strengths includes relational bonding, which involves respect, generosity, and sharing among the tribe, band, clan, and kin group. The needs of the community and family always come before the individual.

Latino families often have strong family networks and traditional values. For example, about 70 percent of Latino children live in two-parent families. Familism is extremely important to Latino families and is often the sole reason they survive.

Asian American families are even more diverse than American Indian and Latino families because their family structures depend on the family’s origin, their time of immigration, and socioeconomic status. However, most Asian American families report feeling pressure to adapt to U.S. culture.

Middle Eastern families come from a population that is described as a “multicultural, multiracial, and multiethnic mosaic”. Most Middle Eastern families consist of two parent households and have many children. Nuclear families are the norm among Middle Eastern families and Benokraitis states that “the family is the center of everything”.

What I Learned

I learned that even though U.S. families are extremely diverse, a majority of them tend to place a high value on family and education. I also found the list of eight privileges that white people often benefit from interesting because it helped me look at things from a different perspective.

Question/Concern

The book states that demographers estimate that only half of the U.S. population will be white by 2050. So my question is, if white families become the minority, do you think they would encounter similar issues that minorities face today?