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Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative research study was to examine the impact of class and race on the perceptions of formal education and participation of socioeconomically disadvantaged adult African Americans. The study was guided by two research questions: 1) How do class and race membership affect the beliefs of socioeconomically disadvantaged African American adults towards educational participation? 2) What culturally based concepts or values do socioeconomically disadvantaged African Americans have regarding the significance/importance of education?Twelve participants in the South, Southwest, Southeast, and Midwest United States participated in the study. Each person fit the following criteria: low-income; 25 years of age or older; self-identified as being Black or African American; and first-generation students or potential students. The semi-structured interviews were in face-to face and in-depth. Six major themes emerged from this study: participants did not strive towards educational success because of the absence of role models from their lives; the participants in this study did not believe that education has a correlation to success; family expectations impact participants tenure in school; the participants goals and dreams of an education were limited by their socioeconomic status; the participants experiences were negatively impacted by their race and class membership; and the culture of the African American community had a complex and often conflicting relationship with the significance of education for Blacks.The three conclusions derived from the study were: 1) the race and class membership of socioeconomically disadvantaged African American adults fosters a worldview of hopelessness regarding the importance/significance of education ; 2) the socioeconomically disadvantaged African American adults in this study believe that education is for Whites and that obtaining an education will separate them from their community; and 3) the socioeconomically disadvantaged African Americans in this study do not accept that there is a link between education and success but instead feel that any life success is made random and chaotic by the forces of racism and classism.