Research Catalog

Coming of age in the other America / Stefanie DeLuca, Susan Clampet-Lundquist, and Kathryn Edin.

Title

Coming of age in the other America / Stefanie DeLuca, Susan Clampet-Lundquist, and Kathryn Edin.

Author

DeLuca, Stefanie,

Publication

New York : Russell Sage Foundation, [2016]
©2016

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan Not available - Please for assistance.	Text	Use in library	HQ796 .D3937 2016	Off-site
Not available - Please for assistance.	Text	Use in library		Off-site

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Description

xx, 298 pages : illustrations, maps; 23 cm

Summary

"Coming of Age in the Other America illuminates the profound effects of neighborhoods on impoverished families. The authors conducted in-depth interviews and fieldwork with 150 young adults, and found that those who had been able to move to better neighborhoods--either as part of the Moving to Opportunity program or by other means--achieved much higher rates of high school completion and college enrollment than their parents. About half the youth surveyed reported being motivated by an "identity project"--or a strong passion such as music, art, or a dream job--to finish school and build a career. Yet the authors also found troubling evidence that some of the most promising young adults often fell short of their goals and remained mired in poverty. Factors such as neighborhood violence and family trauma put these youth on expedited paths to adulthood, forcing them to shorten or end their schooling and find jobs much earlier than their middle-class counterparts.^
It both challenges long-held myths about inner-city youth and shows how the process of "social reproduction"--where children end up stuck in the same place as their parents--is far from inevitable." -- Publisher's description
Weak labor markets and subpar postsecondary educational institutions, including exploitative for-profit trade schools and under-funded community colleges, saddle some young adults with debt and trap them in low-wage jobs. A third of the youth surveyed--particularly those who had not developed identity projects--were neither employed nor in school. To address these barriers to success, the authors recommend initiatives that help transform poor neighborhoods and provide institutional support for the identity projects that motivate youth to stay in school. They propose increased regulation of for-profit schools and increased college resources for low-income high school students. Coming of Age in the Other America presents a sensitive, nuanced account of how a generation of ambitious but underprivileged young Baltimoreans has struggled to succeed.^

Uniform Title

Project Muse UPCC books.

Subject

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 265-290) and index.

Processing Action (note)

committed to retain

Contents

Preface: "Baltimore city, you're breaking my heart" -- "Different privileges that different people inherit" : social reproduction and the transition to adulthood -- "More people that have stuff to live for here" : neighborhood change and intergenerational attainment -- "Following my passion" : how identity projects help youth beat the street and stay on track -- "You never know what's happening : this is Baltimore" : the vulnerability of youth without an identity project -- "It's kind of like crabs in a bucket" : how family and neighborhood disadvantage hinder the transition to adulthood -- "In and out before you know it" : the educational and occupational traps of expedited adulthood -- "If it can cause some kind of change" : policies to support identity projects and reduce educational and neighborhood inequality -- Appendix A: Study history and methodology -- Appendix B: MTOQ5 general description worksheet and MTOQ10 field note template.

ISBN

9780871544650
0871544652
9781610448581 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

^^2015048206

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library