The notion of wealth itself is a cultural construct. For example, indigenous individuals work in a "gift economy", which is essentially the notion of giving valuable goods or services to another without an explicit agreement or confirmation of future repayments. "Wealth in this case is derived as much from distribution—be it money, time, or knowledge—as it is from accumulation."
In Latino/Hispanic societies, it is the church who has responsibility for acquiring and distributing money. Alternatively, in Asian countries, it is a 'clan', a group of families or households, who make the decisions about the financial welfare of the community, determining the resource requirements and allocations.
"However, in black communities, the number of individuals who can make large-dollar or sustaining contributions as board members is small in proportion to the population.
A 2010 study from Brandeis University reported that the typical white family is now five times richer than its African-American counterpart of the same class and that black wealth was largely stagnant from 1984 to 2007." source
Despite this, African-Americans have a history of generosity and giving to others, funding mutual aid communities in the early 19th century to help fund hospitals, schools and finance businesses.
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