Through an in-depth case study of the black professional middle class in Oakland, this book provides an analysis of the experiences of black professionals in the workplace, community, and local politics. Brown shows how overlapping dynamics of class formation and racial formation have produced historically powerful processes of what he terms "racialized class formation," resulting in a distinct (and internally differentiated) entity, not merely a subset of a larger professional middle class.

Eric S. Brown is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Missouri.

1. The Black Middle Class: From the Declining Significance of Race to Racialized Class Formation 2. The Growth and Transformation of the Black Community in Oakland: 1852-1965 3. Swimming in the Mainstream: Racialized Class Formation and the Black Professional Middle Class Since the Civil Rights Era 4. Black to Black: "Traditional" Professionals and Segregated Clientele 5. The Black Professional Middle Class and the Black Community 6. The Black Professional Middle Class and Racialized Class Politics: The Rise, Fall, and Reprise of a Black Urban Regime in Oakland 7. Conclusion: Social Policy and the Black Professional Middle Class