While we hear much about the 'culture of poverty' that keeps poor black men poor, we know little about how such men understand their social position and relationship to the American dream. Moving beyond stereotypes, this book examines how twenty-six poverty-stricken African American men from Chicago view their prospects for getting ahead. It documents their definitions of good jobs and the good life - and their beliefs about whether and how these can be attained. In its pages, we meet men who think seriously about work, family, and community and whose differing experiences shape their views of their social world. Based on intensive interviews, this book reveals how these men have experienced varying degrees of exposure to more-privileged Americans - differences that ground their understandings of how racism and socioeconomic inequality determine their life chances. The poorest and most socially isolated are, perhaps surprisingly, most likely to believe that individuals can improve their own lot. By contrast, men who regularly leave their neighborhood tend to have a wider range of opportunities but also have met with more racism, hostility, and institutional obstacles - making them less likely to believe in the American Dream. Demonstrating how these men interpret their social world, this book seeks to de-pathologize them without ignoring their experiences with chronic unemployment, prison, and substance abuse. It shows how the men draw upon such experiences as they make meaning of the complex circumstances in which they strive to succeed.
| ISBN | 069112700X | | Pages | 288 | | ISBN13 | 9780691127002
(What's this?) | | Volumes | 1 | | Publisher | The University Press Group Ltd | | Weight (grammes) | 428 | | Imprint | Princeton University Press | | Published in | New Jersey | | Format | Paperback | | Series title | Princeton Studies in Cultural Sociology | | Publication date | 16 Jan 2006 | | Height (mm) | 229 | | Library of Congress | HV4046 | | Width (mm) | 152 | | DEWEY | 305.56908996073 | | Spine width (mm) | 15 | | DEWEY edition | DC22 | | Academic level | Professional / Scholarly, Tertiary education |
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Acknowledgments ix Preface xiii PART ONE: LOGICS Introduction Making New Sense of Poor Black Men in Crisis 3 Chapter One The Past and Future of the Cultural Analysis of Black Men 16 PART TWO: LIFEWORLDS Chapter Two Time, Space, and Everyday Living 37 Chapter Three Coming Up Poor 65 PART THREE: WORLDVIEWS Chapter Four Framing Social Reality: Stratification and Inequality 107 Chapter Five Framing Individual Mobility and Attainment 137 Chapter Six Looking Up from Below: Framing Personal Reality 156 Chapter Seven Getting There: Navigating Personal Mobility 180 Chapter Eight Recasting the Crisis of Poor Black Men 199 Appendix 207 Notes 211 References 247 Index 263
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