Fenaba Addo is an Assistant Professor of Consumer Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Wealth Inequality and the Black Middle Class

Studies indicate that middle-class Black Americans tend to view their economic attainment as temporary and stressful. We believe this exemplifies their middle-class status as the more affluent tier of a marginalized community. In this talk I will draw upon my work on student debt to show that racial disparities in education debt are rooted in racial wealth inequality; and, it is a new mechanism by which racial social and economic inequalities are produced to maintain the subaltern status of the young adult Black middle class. I will also discuss policy problems that contribute to racial disparities in debt, and the policy solutions that could ameliorate these disparities.