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“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.”

Invisible Men: Mass Incarceration and the Myth of Black Progress Becky Pettit Department of Sociology University of Washington bpettit@u.washington.edu October 2012. “I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” -Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952).

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“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.”

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  1. Invisible Men:Mass Incarceration and the Myth of Black ProgressBecky PettitDepartment of SociologyUniversity of Washingtonbpettit@u.washington.eduOctober 2012

  2. “I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” -Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)

  3. United States Prison and Jail Population, 1925-2008

  4. Civilian Incarceration Rates, Men 20-34, by Education and Race

  5. Civilian Incarceration Rates, Men 20-34, by Education and Race

  6. Educational Attainment of Male Inmates, 20-34

  7. Educational Attainment of Male Inmates, 20-34

  8. Data Non-institutionalized population • Current Population Survey (CPS March 1980-2008)

  9. Data Non-institutionalized population • Current Population Survey (CPS March 1980-2008) Inmate population • Aggregate inmate counts (1980-2008)

  10. Data Non-institutionalized population • Current Population Survey (CPS March 1980-2008) Inmate population • Aggregate inmate counts (1980-2008) • Survey of Inmates of Local Jails (1978, 1983, 1989, 1996, 2002) • Survey of Inmates of State Correctional Facilities (1979, 1986, 1991, 1997, 2004) • Survey of Inmates of Federal Correctional Facilities (1991, 1997, 2004)

  11. Method • Construct estimates of indicators for household(HH) and inmate (I ) populations

  12. Method • Construct estimates of indicators for household(HH) and inmate (I ) populations • Calculate weighted average of indicators including both groups using weights derived from CPS estimates of the civilian population

  13. Percent of Men Not Completing High School/GED, 2008.

  14. Percent of Men Not Completing High School/GED, 2008.

  15. Percent of Men Not Completing High School/GED, 2008.

  16. Racial Inequality in High School Dropout Rates, Men 20-34, 1980-2008

  17. “Selection Effect” due to Incarceration

  18. Conclusions • Prison or jail is normative among some social and demographic groups • Excluding inmates from surveys obscures portraits of inequality • Including inmates, we find: • No improvement in high school dropout rate among young, black men • Young, black, male dropouts are more likely to be in prison or jail than be employed • The same fraction of young, black male dropouts voted in 2008 as in 1980

  19. Why is Invisible Men Challenging? • Out of the mainstream of American sociology, which now focuses on formulating and testing scientific hypotheses • Contradicts the notion of black progress in the post-civil rights era • Implicates much social science (and social scientists) as complicit

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