Description
Book SynopsisExamines how twenty-six poverty-stricken African American men from Chicago view their prospects for getting ahead. This book documents their definitions of good jobs and the good life - and their beliefs about whether and how these can be attained. It reveals how these men have experienced varying degrees of exposure to more-privileged Americans.
Trade Review"This is a book that has stayed with me. It profoundly enriches the reader's understanding of the world inhabited by marginalized black men. Al Young succeeds in moving well beyond common assumptions about the underclass and the often-decried 'culture of poverty' argument to discover how young poor black men understand their social position, the determinants of social mobility (and immobility), and their relationship with the American dream."
—Michèle Lamont, Harvard University, author of The Dignity of Working Men"There are few studies written with such power of voice and ethnographic and theoretical verisimilitude. Young has captured the essence of these men. His elegant and erudite book will add immeasurably to the debate on urban poverty, race, representation, and the ethnography of so-called hard-to-reach populations."
—Terry Williams, The New SchoolTable of ContentsAcknowledgments 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
