Research Catalog

Title

Ain't no makin' it : aspirations and attainment in a low-income neighborhood / Jay MacLeod.

Author

MacLeod, Jay.

Publication

Boulder : Westview Press, 1995.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xii, 318 p.; 24 cm.

Summary

• 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.
• 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 addressed 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.

Alternative Title

Ain't no making it

Subject

• Urban poor > United States > Case studies
• Youth with social disabilities > United States > Case studies
• Social mobility > United States > Case studies
• Equality > United States > Case studies

Genre/Form

Case studies

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 303-310) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

pt. 1. The Hallway Hangers and the Brothers as Teenagers. 1. Social Immobility in the Land of Opportunity. 2. Social Reproduction in Theoretical Perspective. 3. Teenagers in Clarendon Heights: The Hallway Hangers and the Brothers. 4. The Influence of the Family. 5. The World of Work: Aspirations of the Hangers and Brothers. 6. School: Preparing for the Competition. 7. Leveled Aspirations: Social Reproduction Takes Its Toll. 8. Reproduction Theory Reconsidered -- pt. 2. Eight Years Later: Low Income, Low Outcome. 9. The Hallway Hangers: Dealing in Despair. 10. The Brothers: Dreams Deferred. 11. Conclusion: Outclassed and Outcast(e) -- Appendix: On the Making of Ain't No Makin' It -- Fieldwork: Doubts, Dilemmas, and Discoveries -- Second Harvest: Notes on the 1991 Field Experience.

ISBN

• 081331514X (alk. paper)
• 0813315158 (pbk.)

LCCN

^^^95002367^

OCLC

• 1049717141
• SCSB-11665893

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library