Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T16:16:36.850Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

THE RACE AGAINST TIME

Lived time, Time Loss, and Black Health Opportunity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2017

Naa Oyo A. Kwate
Naa Oyo A. Kwate*
Affiliation:
Department of Africana Studies, Center for Race and Ethnicity and Department of Human Ecology, Rutgers, The State University of NewJersey
*
*Corresponding author: Naa Oyo A. Kwate, Center for Race and Ethnicity, 191 College Ave., Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In this paper I argue that time is a social determinant of health, and one that perpetuates racial health inequalities. Specifically, Black people in the United States experience time losses across numerous domains throughout the life course, putting them at risk of disproportionate morbidity and mortality. Fundamental cause theory holds that social conditions structure health through pathways to resources including money, knowledge, power, prestige, freedom, and social networks. Racialized time indirectly harms health by disrupting or denying access to these flexible resources and by undoing utility among those that are obtained. Racialized time harms health directly when it produces stress and exacerbates conditions of racial subordination. I examine racialized time in three categories: 1) Black people spending too much time to meet basic needs; 2) Black people having less time spent on them than is required; and 3) lost years of (good quality of) life. Linkages between time and health disadvantage exist in material resources, interactions with the state, intimate lives, public space, and cognitive processes.

Keywords

African American/BlackTimeHealthInequalitiesHealth Disparities
Type
State of the Art
Information
Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , Fall 2017 , pp. 497 - 514
Copyright
Copyright © Hutchins Center for African and African American Research 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abramovitz, Mimi, and Albrecht, Jochen (2013). The Community Loss Index: A New Social Indicator. Social Service Review, 87(4): 677–724.Google Scholar
Anderson, Elijah (2015). The White Space. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 1(1): 10–21.Google Scholar
Banks, James, Marmot, Michael, Oldfield, Zoe, and Smith, James P. (2006). Disease and Disadvantage in the United States and England. JAMA, 295(17): 2037–2045.Google Scholar
Bell, Janine (2013). Hate Thy Neighbor: Move-in Violence and the Persistence of Racial Segregation in American Housing. New York: NYU Press.Google Scholar
Benediktsson, Mike Owen (2014). Territories of Concern: Vacant Housing and Perceived Disorder on Three Suburban Blocks. City & Community, 13(3): 191–213.Google Scholar
Bertrand, Marianne, and Sendhil, Mullainathan (2004). Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination. American Economic Review, 94(4): 991–1012.Google Scholar
Bielby, William T. (2012). Minority Vulnerability in Privileged Occupations: Why Do African American Financial Advisers Earn Less Than Whites in a Large Financial Services Firm? The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 639: 13–32.Google Scholar
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo (1996). Rethinking Racism: Toward a Structural Interpretation. American Sociological Review, 62: 465–480.Google Scholar
Boryga, Andrew (2014). Family Time on Prison Buses. The New York Times, November 7. <http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/07/family-time-on-prison-buses/?_r=0> (accessed January 9, 2017).Google Scholar
Brewster, Zachary W., and Rusche, Sarah N. (2012). Quantitative Evidence of the Continuing Significance of Race: Tableside Racism in Full-Service Restaurants. Journal of Black Studies, 43: 893–911.Google Scholar
Brondolo, Elizabeth, Nisha Brady ver Halen, Melissa Pencille, Danielle Beatty, and Richard J. Contrada (2009). Coping with Racism: A Selective Review of the Literature and a Theoretical and Methodological Critique. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 32(1): 64–88.Google Scholar
Burke, Kerry, Morales, Mark, Ross, Barbara, and Otis, Ginger Adams (2013). Barneys Accused Teen of Using Fake Debit Card for $349 Belt Because He’s a ‘Young Black American Male’: Lawsuit. New York Daily News, October 22. <http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/barneys-accused-stealing-black-teen-article-1.1493101> (accessed December 29, 2016).Google Scholar
Case, Anne, and Deaton, Angus (2015). Rising Morbidity and Mortality in Midlife among White Non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st Century. PNAS, 112(49): 15078–15083.Google Scholar
Clark, Rodney, Anderson Norman, B., Clark Vernessa, R., and Williams David, R. (1999). Racism as a Stressor for African Americans: A Biopsychosocial Model. American Psychologist, 54: 805–816.Google Scholar
Coates, Ta-Nehisi (2015). Bewteen the World and Me. New York: Spiegel & Grau.Google Scholar
Corburn, Jason, Curl, Shasa, Arredondo, Gabino, and Malagon, Jonathan (2014). Health in All Urban Policy: City Services through the Prism of Health. Journal of Urban Health, 94(4): 623–636.Google Scholar
DeVeauuse, Natasha, Kim, Kathy, Peek-Asa, Corinne, McArthur, David, and Krauss, Jess (1999). Driver Compliance with Stop Signs at Pedestrian Crosswalks on a University Campus. Journal of American College Health, 47(6): 269–274.Google Scholar
Fernandez Robert, M., and Celina, Su (2004). Space in the Study of Labor Markets. Annual Review of Sociology, 30: 545–569.Google Scholar
Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy (2004). State of New York City’s Housing and Neighborhoods. New York: New York University.Google Scholar
Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy (2010). State of New York City’s Housing and Neighborhoods. New York: New York University.Google Scholar
Galster, George, and Godfrey, Erin (2005). By Words and Deeds: Racial Steering by Real Estate Agents in the U.S. in 2000. Journal of the American Planning Association, 71(3): 251–268.Google Scholar
Gelman, Andrew, Fagan, Jeffrey, and Kiss, Alex (2007). An Analysis of the New York City Police Department’s “Stop- and-Frisk” Policy in the Context of Claims of Racial Bias. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 102(479): 813–823.Google Scholar
Geronimus, Arline T. (2001). Understanding and Eliminating Racial Inequalities in Women’s Health in the United States: The Role of the Weathering Conceptual Framework. Journal of the American Medical Women’s Association, 56(4): 133–136.Google Scholar
Geronimus, Arline T., Hicken, Margaret T., Pearson, Jay A., Seashols, Sarah J., Brown, Kelly L., and Cruz, Tracey Dawson (2010). Do Us Black Women Eperience Stress-Related Accelerated Biological Aging? Human Nature, 21: 19–38.Google Scholar
Goddard, Tara, Barsamian Kahn, Kimberly, and Adkins, Arlie (2015). Racial Bias in Driver Yielding Behavior at Crosswalks. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 33: 1–6.Google Scholar
Gonzalez Van Cleve, Nicole (2016). Crook County: Racism and Injustice in America’s Largest Criminal Court. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Greene, Jessica, Blustein, Jan, and Weitzman, Beth C. (2006). Race, Segregation, and Physicians’ Participation in Medicaid. Milbank Quarterly, 84(2): 239–272.Google Scholar
Hakkert, A. Shalom, Gitelman, Victoria, and Ben-Shabat, Eliah (2002). An Evaluation of Crosswalk Warning Systems: Effects on Pedestrian and Vehicle Behaviour. Transportation Research Part F, 5: 275–292.Google Scholar
Hanchard, Michael (1999). Afro-Modernity: Temporality, Politics, and the African Diaspora. Public Culture, 11(1): 245–268.Google Scholar
Hannon, Lance, DeFina, Robert, and Bruch, Sarah (2013). The Relationship between Skin Tone and School Suspension for African Americans. Race and Social Problems, 5: 281–295.Google Scholar
Harrell, W. Andrew (2001). The Impact of Pedestrian Visibility and Assertiveness on Motorist Yielding. The Journal of Social Psychology, 133(3): 353–360.Google Scholar
Harris, David A. (2013). Across the Hudson: Taking the Stop and Frisk Debate Beyond New York City. Legislation and Public Policy, 16: 853–882.Google Scholar
Hellig, Amy, and Sawicki, David S. (2003). Race and Residential Accessibility to Shopping and Services. Housing Policy Debate, 14(1 and 2): 69–101.Google Scholar
Hirschl, Thomas A., and Rank, Mark R. (2010). Homeownership across the American Life Course: Estimating the Racial Divide. Race and Social Problems, 2: 125–136.Google Scholar
Holland, Sharon P. (2012). The Erotic Life of Racism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Hu, Winnie, and Schwencke, Ken (2015). Dangerous passage and multiplying fines as ice is left uncleared. The New York Times, March 3. <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/04/nyregion/with-no-one-to-clear-it-ice-creates-a-dangerous-passage.html> (accessed December 29, 2016).Google Scholar
Jackson, James S., Knight, Katherine M., and Rafferty, Jane A. (2010). Race and Unhealthy Behaviors: Chronic Stress, the Hpa Axis, and Physical and Mental Health Disparities over the Life Course. American Journal of Public Health, 100(5): 933–939.Google Scholar
Katz, Josh (2015). How Nonemployed Americans Spend Their Weekdays: Men vs. Women. The New York Times, January 6. <http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/01/06/upshot/how-nonemployed-americans-spend-their-weekdays-men-vs-women.html> (accessed December 29, 2016).Google Scholar
Krieger, Nancy (1999). Embodying Inequality: A Review of Concepts, Measures, and Methods for Studying Health Consequences of Discrimination. International Journal of Health Services, 29(2): 295–352.Google Scholar
Krieger, Nancy (2001). Theories for Social Epidemiology in the 21st Century: An Ecosocial Perspective. International Journal of Epidemiology, 30: 668–677.Google Scholar
Krieger, Nancy, Kosheleva, Anna, Waterman, Pamela D., Chen, Jarvis T., and Koenen, Karestan (2011). Racial Discrimination, Psychological Distress, and Self-Reated Health among US-Born and Foreign-Born Black Americans. American Journal of Public Health, 101(9): 1704–1713.Google Scholar
Krysan, Maria (2008). Does Race Matter in the Search for Housing? An Exploratory Study of Search Strategies, Experiences, and Locations. Social Science Research, 37(2): 581–603.Google Scholar
Kwate, Naa Oyo A., and Goodman, Melody S. (2015). Racism at the Intersections: Gender and Socioeconomic Differences in the Experience of Racism among African Americans. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 85(5): 397–408.Google Scholar
Kwate, Naa Oyo A., Goodman, Melody S., Jackson, Jerrod, and Harris, Julen (2013a). Spatial and Racial Patterning of Real Estate Broker Listings in New York City. The Review of Black Political Economy, 40(4): 401–424.Google Scholar
Kwate, Naa Oyo A., Loh, J. M., White, K., and Saldana, N. T. (2013b). Retail Redlining in New York City: Racialized Access to Day-to-Day Retail Resources. Journal of Urban Health, 90(4): 632–652.Google Scholar
Laitner, Bill (2015). Heart and Sole: Detroiter Walks 21 miles in Work Commute. Detroit Free Press, February 10. <http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2015/01/31/detroit-commuting-troy-rochester-hills-smart-ddot-ubs-banker-woodward-buses-transit/22660785/> (accessed December 29, 2016).Google Scholar
Lewis, Tene T., Cogburn, Courtney D., and Williams, David R. (2015). Self-Reported Experiences of Discrimination and Health: Scientific Advances, Ongoing Controversies, and Emerging Issues. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 11: 407–440.Google Scholar
Link, Bruce G., and Phelan, Jo (1995). Social Conditions as Fundamental Causes of Disease. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 36: 80–94.Google Scholar
Lipsitz, George (2011). How Racism Takes Place. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Losen, Daniel J., and Skiba, Russell J. (2010). Suspended Education: Urban Middle Schools in Crisis. Los Angeles, CA: The Civil Rights Project.Google Scholar
Mallozzi, Vincent M. (2005). On the Outside, Busing in. The New York Times, May 20. <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/20/nyregion/on-the-outside-busing-in.html> (accessed December 29, 2016).Google Scholar
Marmot, Michael (2006). Health in an Unequal World. The Lancet, 368: 2081–2094.Google Scholar
Mays, Vickie M., Cochran, Susan D., and Barnes, Namdi W. (2007). Race, Race-Based Discrimination, and Health Outcomes among African Americans. Annual Review of Psychology, 58: 201–225.Google Scholar
Mezuk, Briana, Rafferty, Jane A., Kershaw, Kiarri N., Hudson, Darrell, Abdou, Cleopatra M., Lee, Hedwig, Eaton, William W., and Jackson, James S. (2010). Reconsidering the Role of Social Disadvantage in Physical and Mental Health: Stressful Life Events, Health Behaviors, Race and Depression. American Journal of Epidemiology, 172(11): 1238–1249.Google Scholar
Miller, Claire C. (2015). Stressed, Tired, Rushed: A Portrait of the Modern Family. The New York Times, November 4. <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/05/upshot/stressed-tired-rushed-a-portrait-of-the-modern-family.html?_r=0> (accessed December 29, 2016).Google Scholar
Miller, Lisa L. (2015). What’s Violence Got to Do with It? Inequality, Punishment, and State Failure in Us Politics. Punishment & Society, 17(2): 184–210.Google Scholar
Mills, Charles W. (2014). White Time: The Chronic Injustice of Ideal Theory. Du Bois Review, 11(1): 27–42.Google Scholar
Moore, Tina, and Adams, Ginger (2013). Another Black Barneys Shopper Accused of Credit Card Fraud After Buying $2,5000 Purse: Claim. New York Daily News, October 23. <http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/black-barneys-shopper-accused-buying-2g-purse-article-1.1494855> (accessed December 29, 2016).Google Scholar
Natapoff, Alexandra (2006). Underenforcement. Fordham Law Review, 75: 1715–1775.Google Scholar
National Center for Health Statistics (2012). Health, United States, 2012: With Special Feature on Emergency Care. Hyattsvile, MD.Google Scholar
National Center for Health Statistics (2013). Detailed Tables: “Deaths: Final Data for 2013.” Hyattsville, MD.Google Scholar
National Fair Housing Alliance (2015). Supplemental Narrative in Support of Fair Housing Complaint. Washington, DC.Google Scholar
New York Civil Liberties Union (2012). Stop-and-Frisk 2011 Report. <http://www.nyclu.org/files/publications/NYCLU_2011_Stop-and-Frisk_Report.pdf> (accessed December 29, 2016).+(accessed+December+29,+2016).>Google Scholar
Pager, Devah (2003). The Mark of a Criminal Record. American Journal of Sociology, 5: 937–975.Google Scholar
Pager, Devah, and Shepherd, Hana (2008). The Sociology of Discrimination: Racial Discrimination in Employment, Housing, Credit, and Consumer Markets. Annual Review of Sociology, 34: 181–209.Google Scholar
Paradies, Yin (2006). A Systematic Review of Empirical Research on Self-Reported Racism and Health. International Journal of Epidemiology, 35: 888–901.Google Scholar
Pascoe, Elizabeth A., and Richman, Laura Smart (2009). Perceived Discrimination and Health: A Meta-Analytic Review. Psychological Bulletin, 135(4): 531–554.Google Scholar
Pattillo, Mary (2015). Everyday Politics of School Choice in the Black Community. Du Bois Review, 12(1): 41–71.Google Scholar
Pearson, Jay A. (2008). Can’t Buy Me Whiteness: New Lessons from the Titanic on Race, Ethnicity, and Health. Du Bois Review, 5(1): 27–48.Google Scholar
Petty, Audrey (2013). High Rise Stories: Voices from Chicago Public Housing. San Francisco, CA: Voice of Witness & McSweeny’s Books.Google Scholar
Pew Research Center (2011). Twenty-to-One: Wealth gaps rise to record highs between Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center. <http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/07/26/wealth-gaps-rise-to-record-highs-between-whites-blacks-hispanics/> (accessed December 29, 2016).+(accessed+December+29,+2016).>Google Scholar
Phelan, J. C., and Link, B. G. (2015). Is Racism a Fundamental Cause of Inequalities in Health? Annual Review of Sociology, 41: 311–330.Google Scholar
Phillips, Sandra (2010). The Subprime Crisis and Afriacn Americans. Review of Black Political Economy, 37: 223–229.Google Scholar
Piff, Paul K., Stancato, Daniel M., Côté, Stephane, Mendoza-Denton, Rodolfo, and Keltner, Dacher (2012). Higher Social Class Predicts Increased Unethical Behavior. PNAS, 109(11): 4086–4091.Google Scholar
Prison, Talk. Flamboyant / Prison Gap Bus Services Info and Experiences (blog). <http://www.prisontalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=178558> (accessed September 15, 2015).+(accessed+September+15,+2015).>Google Scholar
Prison, Talk. Prison Gap Bus Service (blog). <http://www.prisontalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8470> (accessed September 15, 2015).+(accessed+September+15,+2015).>Google Scholar
Roscigno, V. J., Karafin, D. L., and Tester, G. (2009). The Complexities and Processes of Racial Housing Discrimination. Social Problems, 56(1): 49–69.Google Scholar
Rothstein, Richard (2014). The Making of Ferguson: Public Policies at the Root of Its Troubles. Washington, DC: Economic Policy Institute.Google Scholar
Rugh, Jacob S., Albright, Len, and Massey, Douglas S. (2015). Race, Space, and Cumulative Disadvantage: A Case Study of the Subprime Lending Collapse. Social Problems, 62: 186–218.Google Scholar
Rugh, Jacob S., and Massey, Douglas S. (2010). Racial Segregation and the American Foreclosure Crisis. American Sociological Review, 75(5): 629–651.Google Scholar
Santora, Marc (2014). Barneys Agrees to Pay $525,000 in Racial Profiling Inquiry. The New York Times, August 11. <https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/12/nyregion/barneys-agrees-to-pay-525000–to-settle-racial-profiling-suit.html> (accessed December 29, 2016).Google Scholar
Satter, Beryl (2009). Family Properties: Race, Real Estate, and the Exploitation of Black Urban America. New York: Metropolitan Books.Google Scholar
Schreer, George E., Smith, Saundra, and Thomas, Kirsten (2009). “Shopping While Black”: Examining Racial Discrimination in a Retail Setting. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 39(6): 1432–1444.Google Scholar
Shavers, Vickie L., and Shavers, Brenda S. (2006). Racism and Health Inequity among Americans. Journal of the National Medical Association, 98(3): 386–396.Google Scholar
Small, Mario L., and McDermott, Monica (2006). The Presence of Organizational Resources in Poor Urban Neighborhoods: An Analysis of Average and Contextual Effects. Social Forces, 84(3): 1697–1724.Google Scholar
Squires, Gregory D., Friedman, Samantha, and Saidat, Catherine E. (2002). Experiencing Residential Segregation: A Contemporary Study of Washington, D.C. Urban Affairs Review, 38(2): 155–183.Google Scholar
Steele, Claude M. (2010). Whistling Vivaldi and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Stepansky, Joe, McShane, Larry, and Sheftell, Jason (2013). Actor Forest Whitaker Gets Stopped and Frisked Leaving Morningside Heights Deli. New York Daily News, February 16. <http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/forest-whitaker-stopped-frisked-upper-east-side-deli-article-1.1266100> (accessed December 29, 2016).Google Scholar
Subramanian, S. V., Acevedo-Garcia, Dolores, and Osypuk, Theresa L. (2005). Racial Residential Segregation and Geographic Heterogeneity in Black/White Disparity in Poor Self-Rated Health in the US: A Multilevel Statistical Analysis. Social Science & Medicine, 60(8): 1667–1679.Google Scholar
Threadcraft, Shatema (2015). Intimate Injustice, Political Obligation, and the Dark Ghetto. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 39(31): 735–760.Google Scholar
Tighe, J. Rosie, and Ganning, Joanna P. (2015). The Divergent City: Unequal and Uneven Development in St. Louis. Urban Geography, 36(5): 654–673.Google Scholar
Turner, Margery A., and Ross, Stephen L. (2005). How Racial Discrimination Affects the Search for Housing. In Briggs, Xavier de Souza (Ed.), The Geography of Opportunity: Race and Housing Choice in Metropolitan America, pp. 81–100. Washington, DC: Brookings.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Education (2011). Civil Rights Data Collection, New York City Public Schools, New York, NY. Lea Summary of Selected Facts.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2009). Child Welfare Outcomes 2006–2009: Report to Congress.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2013). Data Brief 2013–1: Recent Demographic Trends in Foster Care.Google Scholar
Vergara, Camilo J. (2003). American Ruins. New York: Monacelli Press.Google Scholar
Wajcman, Judy (2015). Pressed for Time: The Acceleration of Life in Digital Capitalism. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Wallace, Deborah, and Wallace, Roderick (1998). A Plague on Your Houses: How New York Was Burned Down and National Public Health Crumbled. New York: Verso.Google Scholar
Williams, David R., and Collins, Chiquita (2001). Racial Residential Segregation: A Fundamental Cause of Racial Disparities in Health. Public Health Reports, 116: 404–416.Google Scholar
Williams, David R., and Mohammed, Selina A. (2008). Discrimination and Racial Disparities in Health: Evidence and Needed Research. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 32(1): 20–47.Google Scholar
Williams, David R., and Williams-Morris, Ruth (2000). Racism and Mental Health: The African American Experience. Ethnicity and Health, 5(3/4): 243–268.Google Scholar