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“Their reality is different”: On the Intersection of Racial and Financial Socialization

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Abstract

Financial socialization research often centers racial groups' differing financial habits and knowledge. However, little research explores the racialized experiences and understandings that influence these contrasting outcomes. Drawing on interviews with 99 middle-class Black, Latinx, and White parents, this study examines the role of racism on financial socialization resulting in two principal findings. First, this study finds that racial dynamics affect how parents strategize about financially socializing their children. Black and Latinx parents aim to prepare their children for racial-financial bias. Secondly, Black and Latinx parents often look beyond the nuclear family to financially socialize their children. These practices differ from White parents, who limited financial socialization to the immediate family and were less likely to explicitly connect race to financial socialization. These findings contribute to a more complete understanding of the intersections between racial and financial socialization.

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Data Availability

All data was obtained from the Institute for Race Research and Public Policy (IRRPP). The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available to protect the individual privacy of participants.

Notes

  1. Please note that Hispanics, Latinos, and Mexican Americans are distinct populations with overlapping identities.

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Acknowledgements

This paper is only possible due to the team of researchers and the Institute of Race Research and Public Policy who collected the Chicago Racial Wealth Gap Report data. This team includes, but is not limited to, Fructoso M. Basaldua Jr., Cynthia Brito, Brittany C. Buis, Maximilian Cuddy, Sha' Kurra L. Evans, Em Hall, Mikayla E. Mitchell, Jihmmy Noe Sanchez, Yesenia R. Vargas, Agnieszka Wieczorek, and Luna Vincent White. I also am incredibly grateful to Amanda Lewis, Sigrid Luhr, and Irma Ramirez, who graciously provided feedback on my numerous drafts. Finally, I thank the parents who participated in this study, allowing us access to their lived experiences.

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  1. Department of Sociology, University of Illinois Chicago, 1007 W Harrison St, Chicago, IL, 60607, USA

    Dakari Finister

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Correspondence to Dakari Finister.

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All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of Illinois Chicago Institutional Review Board and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.

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Finister, D. “Their reality is different”: On the Intersection of Racial and Financial Socialization. J Fam Econ Iss (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-023-09942-8

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