- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Basic Books; 2nd Revised edition edition (Jun 21 1995)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0813315158
- ISBN-13: 978-0813315157
- Product Dimensions: 22.4 x 15 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 408 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #811,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
There is a newer edition of this item:
|
Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
“I ain’t goin’ to college. Who wants to go to college? I’d just end up gettin’ a shitty job anyway.” So said Freddie Piniella, an eleven-year-old boy from Clarendon Heights low-income housing project, to Jay MacLeod, his counselor in a youth program. MacLeod was struck by the seeming self-defeatism of Freddie and his friends. How is it that in America, a nation of dreams and opportunities, a boy of eleven can feel trapped in a position of inherited poverty?The author immersed himself in the teenage underworld of Clarendon Heights. The Hallway Hangers, one of the neighborhood cliques, appear as cynical self-destructive hoodlums. The other group, the Brothers, take the American Dream to heart and aspire to middle-class respectability. The twist is that the Hallway Hangers are mostly white; the Brothers are almost all black. Comparing the two groups, MacLeod provides a provocative account of how poverty is perpetuated from one generation to the next.Part One tells the story of the boys’ teenage aspirations. Part Two follows the Hallway Hangers and the Brothers into adulthood. Eight years later the author returns to Clarendon Heights to find the members of both gangs struggling in the labor market or on the streets. Caught in the web of urban industrial decline, the Hallway Hangers—undereducated, unemployed, or imprisoned—have turned to the underground economy. But “cocaine capitalism” only fuels their desperation, and the Hallway Hangers seek solace in sexism and racism. The ambitious Brothers have fared little better. Their teenage dreams in tatters, the Brothers demonstrate that racism takes its toll on optimistic aspirations.This edition retains the vivid accounts of friendships, families, school, and work that made the first edition so popular. The ethnography resonates with feeling and vivid dialogue. But the book also addresses one of the most important issues in modern social theory and policy: how social inequality is reproduced from one generation to the next. MacLeod links individual lives with social theory to forge a powerful argument about how inequality is created, sustained, and accepted in the United States.
About the Author
A Rhodes scholar, Jay MacLeod holds degrees in social studies and theology. He and his wife, Sally Asher, spent four years in Mississippi, where their work with local teenagers led to the publication of Minds Stayed on Freedom: The Civil Rights Struggle in the Rural South, An Oral History (WestviewPress). MacLeod is now an Anglican priest in Chesterfield, a declining mining and market town in Asher's native England.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Moving and Troublesome,
By
This review is from: Ain't No Makin' It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood, Expanded Edition (Paperback)
I read this years ago in an anthropology/sociology class in college, and I can say that it still carries as much weight today as it did then. Jay manages to weave entertaining narration with factual reporting, resulting in a moving work that points a critical finger at our society. I've actually met the author, and can say that he is an honest, engaging and professional writer. At no point did he milk the drama angle of this work, nor use it to further his own agenda. I noticed another reviewer called this book "socialist junk"; to this person I say: just because this work is a testament to some of the failures of America's precious capitalist model does not immediately make it socialist. Moreover, if socialism means having a conscience about racism and socioeconomic discrimination, then sign me up!
4.0 out of 5 stars
A study of the persistance of poverty in a housing project,
By
This review is from: Ain't No Makin' It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood, Expanded Edition (Paperback)
This book provides a thorough account of the aspirations and expectations of two male peer groups residing in a public housing project. Both peer groups, although originating from similar class locations, have distinct aspirations resulting from their racial lived experiences. The peer group consisting mostly of young black men (The Brothers) supported the achievement ideology that we live in an open society. They viewed the hardships faced by previous generations was a result of racial discrimination barriers that (theoretically) cease to exist. They applied themselves in socially acceptable practices such as excelling in school and keeping out of trouble. In contrast, the peer group consisting of mostly young white men (Hallway Hangers) rejected the achievement ideology and had low aspirations of their position in the labor market. They realized through family and friends that their chances of getting out of the projects is slim leading most of the Hallway Hangers dropped out of school and smoked dope, among other illegal activities. Despite the disjuncture of both groups' levels of aspirations, both failed to get out of poverty. MacLeod hung out with both of these male peer groups in an effort to understand their daily meanings of the role of education and their future aspirations rather than relying exclusively on statistical data. I give this book four stars because MacLeod failed to take into consideration the aspirations and expectations of young women. Instead he concentrated solely on the role of race and class. I would recommend this book to anyone who wishes to understand how societal structures restrict and limit the actions of individuals. Furthermore this book challenges the myth that education creates a level playing field for all regardless of race or class (and gender too ~ although not addressed here).
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Reading,
By A Customer
This review is from: Ain't No Makin' It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood, Expanded Edition (Paperback)
This book shows the lives of two groups of teens living in poverty and low-income areas. This book gives their perspective of the acheivement ideology and how everyone just is not meant to climb the ladder of social mobility.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Nonfiction > Current Events > Poverty
- Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Anthropology
- Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Sociology > Urban
- Books > Science > Behavioural Sciences
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
