No More Kin: Exploring Race, Class, and Gender in Family Networks

Abstract

No More Kin: Exploring Race, Class, and Gender in Family Networks. Anne R. Roschelle. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 1997. 235 pp. ISBN 07619-0159-0. $21.95 cloth. Studies of minority families conducted in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly in the ethnographic tradition, sought to correct the negative stereotypes perpetuated by theorists of the culture of poverty. Instead of depicting distinct family patterns (e.g., extended families) in ethno-racial minorities as deviant, these scholars portrayed positive images of how, in the midst of economic deprivation, minority families participated in extended social support networks, mostly through women. This networking was seen as a deliberate strategy to offset the deleterious effects of poverty. Roschelle's provocative study contends that, although economic resources are salient predictors of participation in support networks, their effect is precisely the opposite. She argues that the constraints of a hostile economic system have contributed to the impoverishment of minority families, which has prevented them from participating in exchange networks and from realizing their familistic identities. The elaborate social support networks characteristic of urban minorities two decades ago may no longer exist. The author makes this powerful point by meticulously examining cultural and structural determinants of participation in social support networks among different ethno-racial groups and through the lens of an analytical framework that incorporates race, class, and gender as systems of oppression. The result is a fine study with important theoretical and policy implications. After a detailed discussion and critique of the main theoretical approaches to the study of extended networks within both the cultural and structural perspectives, Roschelle presents the culturestructure nexus, a model that incorporates both perspectives. This integrative perspective allows the examination of the simultaneous impact of cultural and structural factors on family organization among ethno-racial groups. From this vantage point, the author assesses the effect of the interlocking hierarchies of class, gender, and race on network support. Empirically, Roschelle compares help that is given and received by family and friends among African Americans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, and non-Hispanic Whites. She also examines the effects of class and gender on support networks and the propensity for extended living arrangements for each group. Her study is based on the first wave of the National Survey of Families and Households, a nationally representative probability sample survey conducted in 1987 and 1988. She includes indicators of cultural attitudes toward giving and receiving help, measures of socioeconomic resources, demographic variables, and a set of variables to measure availability and proximity of friends and family. Her main dependent variables represent three dimensions of support: monetary resources, child care, and household assistance. Due to significant gender differences in the types of help given and received, the author used child care when she analyzes women's networks and household assistance in the analyses of men's networks. …