Incarceration and Black Progress

About the Talk

For African American men without a high school diploma, being in prison or jail is more common than being employed - a sobering reality that calls into question post-Civil Rights era social gains. Nearly 70 percent of young black men without a high school diploma will be imprisoned at some point in their lives. In Invisible Men, Becky Pettit demonstrates another vexing fact of mass incarceration: most national surveys do not account for prison inmates, a fact that results in a misrepresentation of U.S. political, economic, and social conditions in general and black progress in particular. Invisible Men provides an eye-opening examination of how mass incarceration has concealed decades of racial inequality.

This talk is one of four in a panel session that is part of "Pre-K to Prison Pipeline: Changing the Odds for Boys of Color", a day-long symposium being presented by the African American Studies Department with support from MPRC. The Center is contributing to the symposium by sponsoring the participation of Dr. Pettit.

About the Speaker

Becky Pettit is Professor of Sociology at the University of Washington. Professor Pettit brings the perspectives of demography and economic sociology to the study of social, gender and racial inequalities. Her current projects include a study of the consequences of the rise in the American prison population for the labor market experiences of low-skill men and a study of the role of state policies in institutionalizing gender inequalities in the labor market.

 Visit Professor Pettit's webpage

Sponsored by the Department of African American Studies with support from MPRC