Ain't No Makin' It : Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood

by MacLeod,Jay

• ISBN13: 9780813343587
• ISBN10: 0813343585
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-07-29
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This classic text addresses one of the most important issues in modern social theory and policy: how social inequality is reproduced from one generation to the next. With the original 1987 publication ofAinrs"t No Makinrs" ItJay MacLeod brought us to the Clarendon Heights housing project where we met the "Brothers" and the "Hallway Hangers." Their story of poverty, race, and defeatism moved readers and challenged ethnic stereotypes. MacLeodrs"s return eight years later, and the resulting 1995 revision, revealed little improvement in the lives of these men as they struggled in the labor market and crime-ridden underground economy. The third edition of this classic ethnography of social reproduction brings the story of inequality and social mobility into todayrs"s dialogue. Now fully updated with thirteen new interviews from the original Hallway Hangers and Brothers, as well as new theoretical analysis and comparison to the original conclusions,Ainrs"t No Makinrs" Itremains an admired and invaluable text. Contents Part One: 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 ReconsideredPart Two: 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)Part Three: Ainrs"t No Makinrs" It? 12. The Hallway Hangers: Fighting for a Foothold at Forty 13. The Brothers: Barely Making It 14. Making Sense of the Stories, by Katherine McClelland and David Karen

Author Biography

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.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
The Hallway Hangers and the Brothers as Teenagers
Social Immobility in the Land of Opportunity	p. 3
Social Reproduction in Theoretical Perspective	p. 11
Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis: Schooled by Social Class	p. 12
Pierre Bourdieu: Cultural Capital and Habitus	p. 13
Basil Bernstein and Shirley Brice Heath: Linguistic Cultural Capital	p. 16
Paul Willis: The Lads and the Ear'oles	p. 18
Henry Giroux: Student Resistance to School	p. 20
Social Reproduction in Clarendon Heights	p. 22
Notes	p. 23
Teenagers in Clarendon Heights: The Hallway Hangers and the Brothers	p. 25
The Hallway Hangers: "You Gotta Be Bad"	p. 25
The Brothers: Conspicuous by Their Conventionality	p. 45
Notes	p. 50
The Influence of the Family	p. 51
The Hallway Hangers' Households	p. 51
The Brothers' Families	p. 54
Notes	p. 61
The World of Work: Aspirations of the Hangers and Brothers	p. 62
The Hallway Hangers: Keeping a Lid on Hope	p. 62
The Brothers: Ready at the Starting Line	p. 75
Notes	p. 83
School: Preparing for the Competition	p. 84
The Brothers: Conformity and Compliance	p. 89
The Hallway Hangers: Teacher's Nightmare	p. 93
The Underlying Logic of Student Behavior	p. 98
Notes	p. 111
Leveled Aspirations: Social Reproduction Takes Its Toll	p. 113
The Hallway Hangers: Internalizing Probabilities, Rescuing Self-Esteem	p. 114
The Brothers: Internalizing Failure, Shorn of Self-Esteem	p. 126
The Sources of Variation	p. 129
Notes	p. 135
Reproduction Theory Reconsidered	p. 137
Building on Bourdieu	p. 137
From Ethnography to Theory	p. 140
Individuals in the Social Landscape	p. 146
Cultural Autonomy within Structural Constraints	p. 149
Notes	p. 153
Eight Years Later: Low Income, Low Outcome
The Hallway Hangers: Dealing in Despair	p. 157
On the Job	p. 162
Working the Street	p. 172
Producing Themselves	p. 184
Notes	p. 196
The Brothers: Dreams Deferred	p. 198
Shortchanged on the Labor Market	p. 198
Sold on School	p. 213
Aspiration and Outcome: What Went Wrong?	p. 219
Groping for the Good Life	p. 233
Notes	p. 239
Conclusion: Outclassed and Outcast(E)	p. 241
Poverty: A Class Issue	p. 243
Racial Domination: Invidious but Invisible	p. 245
Race Versus Class: Can They Be Untangled?	p. 249
Structure Versus Agency: "No One to Blame but Me"	p. 252
What Is to Be Done?	p. 261
Class Dismissed	p. 267
Notes	p. 270
Ain't no Makin' It? The Men at Midlife	p. 273
The Hallway Hangers: Weeble, Wobble, But We Don't Fall Down	p. 277
Frankie: Connected	p. 278
Jinx: Stuck Around	p. 292
Shorty: All Bull Work	p. 300
Steve: My Life Sucks	p. 311
Stoney: Saved by the Drum	p. 317
Chris: Back Down at the Bottom	p. 328
Slick: Head Up High	p. 335
The Brothers: Finally Finding a Foothold	p. 350
Mokey: Manager	p. 351
Super: Hustler	p. 360
Mike: Buyer and Broker	p. 370
Juan: Mechanic	p. 376
James: Programmer	p. 386
Derek: Trainer	p. 396
Reproduction, Redemption, and Respect	p. 407
Introduction	p. 407
Analysis	p. 409
So ... Have They Made It?	p. 412
Capital on the Labor Market	p. 418
The Path to Down and Out: Drugs, Alcohol, and Crime	p. 427
Race and Racism	p. 431
Family: Settling Down and Moving Out	p. 435
The Meaning of (Im)Mobility	p. 439
Class Consciousness?	p. 445
Seeking Redemption	p. 448
The Next Generation	p. 451
Conclusion	p. 457
Notes	p. 461
Afterword: Freddie's Final Say	p. 465
On the Making of Ain't No Makin' It	p. 467
Fieldwork: Doubts, Dilemmas, and Discoveries	p. 467
Second Harvest: Notes on the 1991 Field Experience	p. 488
Confessions: Clarendon Heights Revisited	p. 496
Notes	p. 504
Biographical Sketches of the Hallway Hangers and the Brothers in 2006	p. 505
The Hallway Hangers	p. 505
The Brothers	p. 508
Bibliography	p. 511
About the Book	p. 521
About the Authors	p. 523
Index	p. 525
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