RACIAL TRENDS AND DIFFERENCES IN THE UNITED-STATES 30 YEARS AFTER THECIVIL-RIGHTS-DECADE

In the 30 years since the civil rights movement of the 1960s, racial d iversity in the United States has increased through high nonwhite birt h rates and, for Asians and Hispanics, increased immigration. Demograp hic and survey data reveal differences in age distribution, fertility, mortality, and family structure. The races are stratified in educatio n, employment, and earnings, with Asians at the top and blacks, Hispan ics, and Indians at the bottom, though the differences are smaller for women. Blacks in particular have benefited from legislation and chang ing white attitudes. However, continued negative stereotyping leads ma ny whites, even if they endorse equal opportunity, to regard black emp loyees, borrowers, or tenants as undesirable, limiting improvements in black economic improvement. Housing integration was the last area to be accepted by whites and is marked by especially severe obstacles. Th e newer racial minorities may be moving to overtake blacks as Eastern European whites did in earlier decades. (C) 1997 Academic Press.