Description
Book SynopsisFamed anthropologist Ortner tracks down representative classmates from her mostly Jewish Newark, NJ high school class of '58 in order to examine class culture and ethnicity in America today.
Trade Review"For thirty years [Ortner] has studied gender and social and cultural theory, helping invent the field of feminist anthropology. . . [In
New Jersey Dreaming] Ms. Ortner vividly captured those days when girls took home economics and boys took shop. . . ." -- Felicia Lee * New York Times *
"Ortner is an entertaining writer with a strong personal voice. . . ."
-- Elaine Showalter * American Prospect *
"[Ortner] convincingly argues that her classmates' success is not only a function of their work ethic and the level of acceptance of the dominant culture's value system, but also a function of how well they are able to benefit from their other group memberships. Recommended."
-- G. Rabrenovic * Choice *
"
New Jersey Dreaming is consistently cogent, thought provoking and just plain fun to read. Because of the accessibility of the subject matter and the lucid descriptions of anthropological method and theory, I highly recommend this book for classroom use."
-- Michael Chibnik * American Ethnologist *
"Written by one of the most proficient anthropologists today,
New Jersey Dreaming is an exemplar of the possibilities and limitations of multi-sited ethnography. It also is a fine contribution to the ethnography of schools and of class and socio-economic mobility in America. . . . Ortner's deft touch with both theory and method makes for a very readable and accessible book." -- Marilyn Silverman * Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology *
"This is a lovely and interesting book. . . . [I]t offers valuable insights into class, race, ethnicity, gender, education, and friendship." -- Lynne Pettinger * Ethnic and Racial Studies *
"Ortner's book is a valuable contribution to the study of the role of class in contemporary America.
New Jersey Dreaming is a tour de force exposition of the premise that class is not some natural object lying around in the world but is culturally or discursively constructed." -- J. Brian Sheehan * American Studies International *
"
New Jersey Dreaming is a distinctive and theoretically rigorous cultural analysis of class mobility that challenges the disciplinary apartheid in which anthropologists have tended to concede the study of U.S. social mobility and society to sociologists and historians. It offers a theoretical and methodological map of this terrain and will be a standout among books devoted to social change and class inequality."
-- France Winddance Twine * Current Anthropology *
"[E]xceptionally interesting . . . . [A]n important and genuinely innovative book. . . .
New Jersey Dreaming is a real achievement in the study of American society. It offers a complex analysis that is a wonderful model for the study of class and culture, and it is a truly pioneering work in the ethnographic study of these critical features of American society."
-- Riv-Ellen Prell * Jewish Quarterly Review *
“Ortner’s book is what anthropology is at its best: an exploration of everyday life (whether old or new) and an analysis that uncovers life’s layers of subjective meanings and relations between them. Even more exciting, and perhaps more challenging for Ortner, is that
New Jersey Dreaming is a book about an anthropologist’s own ‘culture,’ one’s own ‘nativity,’ so to speak.” -- Linwood H. Cousins * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *
“Ortner’s engaging ethnography of the class of 1958 lays bare a fascinating slice of recent American life and shows convincingly how it participated in the larger movements of contemporary history.” -- William H. Sewell, Jr. * American Journal of Sociology *
“Ortner is an accomplished and polished writer. The prose is clear and lucid yet vibrant. This is not a dry account of data collected and analyzed. It is a rendition of a time and place in New Jersey without the nostalgia, but with respect and a certain sense of affection. I would recommend this text not only for the professional, but as a teaching volume. This is how good ethnography is done.” -- Kathleen Shapiro * H-New Jersey, H-Net Reviews *
Table of ContentsList of Tables and Map ix
Acknowledgments xi
Letter to the Class of '58 xv
1. Introduction:
A Genealogy of the Present / The Class of '58 and the Question of Class / The Research / The Native Ethnographer / Project Journal 1: Getting Started 1
The Making of the Class of '58
2. Reading Class:
Families and Class / Behind Closed Doors / Hiding in Plain Sight / Project Journal 2: Florida 27
3. Drawing Boundaries:
To Melt or Not? / The Ethnic Story / The Class Story / Project Journal 3: Los Angeles 51
4. Dealing with Boundaries:
The Others / Overt Racism / Race and Ethnic Relations at Weequabic / Internalizing Limits / Survival Strategies / Project Journal 4: New Jersey 68
5. American High Schools:
Memories and Categories / Deconstructing High School / High School Types across Time and Space / Permutations of the Structure / Project Journal 5: New York 90
6. Weekquahic:
The Top of the Table: High-Capital Kids and Popularity / The Lower Half of the Table: Low-Capital Kids and Resistance / Identities I: The Wildness of the Tame / Identities II: The Tameness of the Wild / Project Journal 6: New Jersey 110
7. Tracks:
Weequabic qua School / College Prep? / Cultural Capital / College as a Cultural System / Gender Tracks / Project Journal 7: New Jersey 141
What the Class of '58 Made
8. Counterlives:
Earlier Causes / The Other Fifities / The Sixties / Project Journa 8: New Jersey 169
9. Money:
Success / Upward Mobility / The Success of Jewish Men / High -Capital Jewish Boys / Downward Mobility / Low-Capital Jewish Boys / Mobility, Agency, and History / Project Journal 9: Children of the Class of '58, New Jersey 187
10. Happiness:
Zero College / Success II: Happiness / Project Journal 10: Children of the Class of '58 (LA and Other Far-flung Places, Including New Jersey) 213
11. Liberation:
Women and Higher Education / Class of '58 Women and the Feminist Movement / Divorce / Careers / Succeeding in Nontraditional Careers / Project Journal 11: Endgame 238
12. Late Capitalism:
The Class of '58 and the Making of Late Capitalism / The Growth of the PMC / Race Again 262
Appendix 1. Finding People / Judy Epstein Rothbard 279
Appendix 2. In Memoriam 282
Appendix 3. Lost Classmates 283
Appendix 4. The Class of '58 Today 284
Notes 295
Works Cited 313
Index 331
