My hypothesis is much in line with yours. I am drawing on personal experience, so make of that what you will.
My family two generations ago was solidly middle class, but alcoholism and family tragedy broke that. I am one of the millions of boys who never had a father and who grew up in a bad neighborhood - but I made it out. Sure, I am smart, but I don't think that is the whole story.
When my mom failed (which was a lot), my grandparents picked up the slack. By the time I had made it through high school (a presitigous all boys school where I didn't fit in but it served me well) my grandparents had sold one of their inner city properties and dipped into their retirement. If I was a girl and made the same mistakes my mom did, I would not be able to give my child the life I had.
For American blacks, this is the predominant reality. They were making gains up until the 60s, and then the welfare state happened. As single motherhood rose among blacks, there were no middle class grandparents to lean on. Those kids slipped through the cracks and became fucked up adults.
The 90s music you mention didn't change culture, it was just the first time the consequences of those broken homes made it mainstream as those kids became adults.
Give it 20-30 years and another generation of broken families. Black or white, it is a race to the bottom.
My hypothesis is much in line with yours. I am drawing on personal experience, so make of that what you will.
My family two generations ago was solidly middle class, but alcoholism and family tragedy broke that. I am one of the millions of boys who never had a father and who grew up in a bad neighborhood - but I made it out. Sure, I am smart, but I don't think that is the whole story.
When my mom failed (which was a lot), my grandparents picked up the slack. By the time I had made it through high school (a presitigous all boys school where I didn't fit in but it served me well) my grandparents had sold one of their inner city properties and dipped into their retirement. If I was a girl and made the same mistakes my mom did, I would not be able to give my child the life I had.
For American blacks, this is the predominant reality. They were making gains up until the 60s, and then the welfare state happened. As single motherhood rose among blacks, there were no middle class grandparents to lean on. Those kids slipped through the cracks and became fucked up adults.
The 90s music you mention didn't change culture, it was just the first time the consequences of those broken homes made it mainstream as those kids became adults.
Give it 20-30 years and another generation of broken families. Black or white, it is a race to the bottom.