Mary Pattillo’s Sociology of the Black Middle Class

• Published in: Critical sociology Vol. 47; no. 6; pp. 1033 - 1041
• Main Authors: Nopper, Tamara K., Pattillo, Mary
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01-09-2021; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Black people; Childhood; Graduate studies; Happiness; Interviews; Middle class; Sanctions
• ISSN: 0896-9205; 1569-1632
• DOI: 10.1177/0896920520928015

This conversation took place in April of 2019. The year 2019 marked the 20th anniversary of the publication of Dr Mary Pattillo's influential book Black Picket Fences: Privilege and Peril among the Black Middle Class. We discussed this book, her larger body of work, her childhood, undergraduate and graduate school experiences, the mentorship she received-notably from Dr William Julius Wilson-and her more recent scholarship on monetary sanctions as well as Black joy. When I contacted Dr Pattillio requesting an interview, I assumed that if she said yes it would be conducted over the phone given the distance between Providence and Chicago. But Dr Pattillo invited me to meet with her nearby, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when she would be in the city to deliver a presentation on monetary sanctions at Harvard University. Our conversation, then, occurred face to face and we worked together to edit the interview.