A New Look at the Black Middle Class: Research Trends and Challenges

This article proposes a new look at the black middle class; continued study of this group and their dually privileged, yet marginalized, statuses may provide further insight into the mechanisms by which race and class continue to act as systems of stratification. This work highlights significant contributions of black middle class research and areas for growth within urban sociology, education and work, and medical sociology. Among the challenges to advancing a new research agenda on the black middle class are: the need for consistent operational definitions of the middle class, variations in methodological approaches, and the consideration of heterogeneity within this group. Overall, there is a need for a theoretical framework to link the many theories of the black middle class, since study of this group promises to advance a broader understanding of social stratification.