Ain't no makin' it
Subtitle: aspirations and attainment in a low-income neighborhood
By: Jay MacLeod.
Publisher: Westview Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Boulder
Language: eng
Number of pages: 318
Subjects: 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
Genres: Case studies.
Other titles: Ain't no making it
Description: 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.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 303-310) and index.