Reaganomics and Its Implications for African-American Family Life

Abstract

Since President Reagan was elected for the first time in 1980, some have argued that his policies were disadvantageous to the dispossessed, in general, and to Black Americans, in particular (see Joint Center for Political Studies, 1983). While many of these arguments which were written by Black scholars, are understandably concerned with actions of the Reagan administration insofar as they impacted on Black Americans, they tend not to look at the government's policies in terms of its underlying thrust-supply-side economics. This article, therefore, approaches the task of assessing the economic policies of the Reagan administration, or Reaganomics as it is sometimes called, and their impact on the BlackAmerican family in terms of the premises and substance of supply-side economics. It begins by looking at the theoretical aspects of Reaganomics, after which practical manifestations are examined in terms of their implications for the family life of American Blacks. The article concludes that although Reaganomics stressed such well-known American values as hard work, thrift, independence, and freedom of choice, its major thrust affected the poor, among whom Blacks are disproportionately represented, more negatively than the rich.