Power to the People: An Intersectional Class Approach to Racial Inequality Alleviation

Abstract

Despite decades of change, significant racial disparities persist in almost every aspect of life. How to reduce these disparities is not clear and is an enduring matter of debate among activists and scholars. Although dominant approaches take a complex view of the causes of racial inequality focusing on both social psychological and economic structural factors, views on the best way to alleviate racial inequality divide into two main camps: top down and bottom up. The top down approach suggests that minority representation in elite spaces (i.e., as legislators, CEOs, or celebrities) is the key alleviator of racial inequality. Conversely, the bottom up approach argues that collective action of those at the bottom (i.e. the poor and working class) is the key to racial inequality alleviation. In this article, I use data on racial disparities in homeownership by state to test these two theoretical approaches to racial inequality against each other. I find that an intersectional class movement reduces racial inequality. Using the labor movement as an example of an intersectional class movement, I find that union power reduces racial inequality, but racial political representation most likely has no effect on racial inequality at the state level.