Description
Book SynopsisClass Construction explores class, racial, and gender identity construction among white, working-class students. Delving into River City High School, Freie asks what happens to the adolescent children of working-class families when economic changes such as globalization and technological advancements have altered the face of working-class jobs. Mass consumerism, greater availability of college level education, lack of a cohesive class identity, and racial and religious politics all combine to create a new working-class identity for today''s youth. Featuring interviews with the River City High School students, Class Construction aims to understand how class is conceptualized among American, working-class youths. Class Construction is ideal for courses on sociology, education, gender studies, and American studies, as well as high school educators and administrators.
Trade ReviewSet against massive shifts in the global economy, which has destabilized the traditional working class,Class Construction: White Working-Class Student Identity in the New Millennium deftly probes the present and future of today's white working-class youth as they plunge forward in the midst of America's jobless recovery. Employing ethnographic methods set firmly within changing structural context, Freie's book is a "must read" for anyone who desires to learn more about the repositioning of working class youth in the midst of intesnified attendance at colleges coupled with the declining value of a college credential, the tight job market in the United States, and radically changing domestic roles inside a group traditionally wedded to hegemonic masculinity. Freie's work is sure to become a classic with respect to class rearrangement at the turn of the century. -- Lois Weis, State University of New York Distinguished Professor, author of Class Reunion: The Remaking of the American White Working Class
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction: Welcome to River City Chapter 2 Girls at River City High School Chapter 3 Boys at River City High School Chapter 4 Peer Groups Chapter 5 "Normal" White Kids Chapter 6 Conclusions
