Stack conducted a formal quantitative study in Appendix A (Stack, p. 130) to support that conclusions that were drawn in the qualitative portion of her survey. The statistics that she found through a study of 200 AFDC case studies supported the assumption that the families she portrayed did represent typical scenarios in the community. Stack addressed the stereotypical image that portrays the ghetto black as hopeless and powerless found in other literature. She defends her position that the image is incorrect. Both the quantitative and qualitative evidence supports her theory that the black family in ghetto urban areas has a formal support network. She debunks the myth that there is no way out through many examples that she found in her studies.

One of the key shortfalls that can be found in the work of Gregory is that he fails to address the impact of the influx of Latinos into the area during the time of the study (Borges, p. 2). The Flats is in Jackson Harbor, a Midwestern town. Stack did not address the issue of Latinos or other ethnic groups, other than to mention that whites often treated black in the area in an unfavorable fashion. It is not expected that the issue of Latinos would be as important in the Flats as it would be in the area addressed by Gregory. For Gregory, the issue of Latinos represents a potential source of bias. Likewise, Stack's reliance on AFDS...

Both relied primarily on quantitative approaches to draw their conclusions. Both works are highly interpretative although Stack supported her work with much more quantitative data than Gregory. Gregory failed to address several issues, such as the prevalence of male power and the influence of Latinos in the area. However, his work still stands as a major contribution to our understanding of blacks in urban communities. The most important aspect of an examination of these two studies is that even though they chose two different demographic groups, they found many racially-based similarities among the community members. It was race that bound both of these communities together.
Works Cited

Borges, J. "Review of Steven Gregory, Black Corona: Race and the Politics of Place in an Urban Community, H-Urban, H-Net Reviews, February, 1999.

URL: http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=10009919459304. Accessed May

Gregory, S. Black Corona: Race and the Politics of Place in an Urban

Community. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.

Stack, C. All Our Kin: Strategies For Survival In A Black Community. The Perseus Books Group. September 1983.