- Sep 2022
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www.aei.org www.aei.org
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https://www.aei.org/articles/what-malcolm-gladwell-gets-wrong-about-poverty/
What creates "strong families"? It's definitely more than a two-parent household. Economic and social support are highly helpful as well as a myriad of other factors.
Watch the potential for subtle right leaning bias here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Enterprise_Institute#Political_stance_and_impact
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But until all participants in the debate recognize the overwhelming importance of having two parents in the home, we’re not going to get very far in improving opportunity.
If two-parent families are so important, where is the support for all two-parent families? Where is economic support for these going to magically appear? Is he pushing that agenda?
The arrest and incarceration rates for African-American men is primarily a tax on Black families which tends to split them up and destabilize them appalling rates. Why not mention this as something that could be helped in his argument here?
He seems to be doing a lot of cherry picking.
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This point may not appeal as much to liberal sensibilities, but any serious conversation of this study, or upward mobility generally, has to begin with the state of the two-parent family in America.
This seems to fall back on the trope of "two-parent families are the natural state" when in reality, since the late 80's one's chances are better with a two-parent, two-income family which provides far greater stability. His argument here is conflating multiple complex items, an issue he takes with Gladwell himself.
Why not peel apart this two-parent claim the same way? I suspect he may be nodding to the single-earner two-parent mode, but how prevalent is this in American culture now? What other pieces also underpin this? And is it different by state, by race, by culture, etc.
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