Beyond work: elite Black women’s tensions with middle-class status

This article examines how elite Black women determine their class status in the era of wealth inequality. While previous literature focuses on labor to theorize Black middle-class power, homeownership, debt, and consumerism are meaningful amid the race and gender wealth gaps. This paper uses data from 24 interviews with Black, college-educated, married, homeowning women in a Southern state to explore the class attitudes and economic indicators participants use to claim middle-class status. These findings contribute to our understanding of how the Black middle-class navigates their economic privilege and precarity beyond employment and reveals tensions between the Black middle-class and Black elite.