Description
Book SynopsisThis provocative story of contemporary high school argues that a shallow culture of kindness can do more lasting harm than good. Based on two years of research, Nice Is Not Enough shares striking dispatches from one high school's regime of kindness to underline how the culture operates as a Band-Aid on persistent inequalities. Through incisive storytelling and thoughtful engagement with students, this brilliant study by C.J. Pascoe exposes uncomfortable truths about American politics and our reliance on individual solutions instead of profound systemic change. Nice Is Not Enough brings readers into American High, a middle- and working-class high school characterized by acceptance, connection, and kindnessa place where, a prominent sign states, there is no room for hate. Here, inequality is narrowly understood as a problem of individual merit, meanness, effort, or emotion rather than a structural issue requiring deeper intervention. Surface-level sensitivity allows American High
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgments
Preface
1 No Room for Hate
2 The Politics of Protection
3 Love and Justice at American High
4 When Powder Puff Becomes Power Tough
5 The Philanthropic Class
6 The Politics of Care
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index
