The Love Jones Cohort

Kris Marsh is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland. Previously, Professor Marsh was a visiting researcher at the University of Southern California and Fulbright Scholar in South Africa at the University of Witwatersrand and the University of Johannesburg. Professor Marsh's areas of expertise are the Black middle class, demography, racial residential segregation, and education.

• Introduction; 1. Scholarly debates on defining the Black middle class; 2. How the Love Jones Cohort define the Black middle class; 3. The Love Jones Cohort and Black middle-class identity; 4. The rise of never-married Black singles; 5. Choice, circumstance, or both?; 6. Lifestyle ebbs and flows; 7. Intergenerational mobility and disseminating wealth; 8. Homeownership and the accumulation of wealth; 9. Neighborhood decisions and interactions; 10. Health, mental well-being, and coping strategies (with Courtney Thomas); Conclusion; Afterword.

'A skillful combination of demography and qualitative interviews, The Love Jones Cohort is the defining reference on the rise and reality of Black middle-class singledom. Marsh offers a highly original take on the path to and consequences of forgoing parenting, marriage, and co-habitation. It is essential reading for scholars of the family and the Black community.' Mary Pattillo, author of Black Picket Fences: Privilege and Peril among the Black Middle Class