new book

After reading the first chapter I am very excited to read this book. I already want to just into the next coming chapters and find out more about the perspective of the author and the girls she interviews.

The end of Clarendon Heights

This book has opened my eyes to many perspectives on social mobility within social classes. At the beginning of this book, I found myself rooting for the Brothers and disliking the Hallway Hangers. Towards the middle of the book, I found myself rooting for both group of boys. I was hoping that towards the end of the book all of them would have found the "right path" and be living these lives of middle class income, white picket fences, and out of the ghetto. That is not necessarily the case. Only a select few got out of the ghetto and have done things with their lives. Some of the boys have moved out of Clarendon Heights. Others are still on drugs, selling drugs, or in jail. Others have child support that they have to pay, and others are still living in Clarendon Heights.

I then posed a question to myself. Do I think that these boys have reached a point in their lives where they are now socially successful? In the middle of the book, I may have said yes. Now I say maybe not. However, I do feel that these boys have been through alot and have over come a lot of struggle to get to where they were two years ago. As for some of the boys, they have reached a low point. I hope that they are now on their way to a high point and able to make a life for themselves and their children. These boys were interesting to read. They gave a totally new perspective on stereotypes, and really made a point of saying that your environment and surroundings help you mold you for your future.

Education

The education system guides us to believe in the achievement ideology. Teachers butter us up to believe that hard work and dedication will guide us to a good jobs and a great life. Is that necessarily true? I don't believe so. Jay MacLeod says that kids who are in lower socio-economical status' do not have an equal opportunity, and in fact are shunned from striving to move up in social classes and status. I feel like there is a stigma against these people. In turn, teachers perceive these children to be highly unmotivated. MacLeod proposes a plan to eliminate this and perhaps gives children of lower status a chance to achieve greatness. He says that teachers should teach their children about social classes, and the inequalities that surround them. Teachers should also teach them about people who have had to struggle in order to get to a good point in their life.

In class, someone brought up the point of cultural capital and social reproduction. MacLeod wants to break these ideologies because he feels that they are prevalent, and hold people back from their fullest potential. However, I feel that his new system that he wants to institute also reproduces cultural capital. However, I feel that social reproduction is broken. Kids are able to see how people who are from their socio-economic status have over come difficulty and reached success. Although this is a good thing, the achievement ideology is still in place. I’m not totally sure how this can be broken, but if we can somehow break all three, I feel that we will be able to see more equality between classes and see more social mobility.

Social mobility is good, but that also means that competition would become more intense and scarcity of jobs would become a complete reality.

Cultural perspectives

The education system guides us to believe in the achievement ideology. i know that in my circumstances, this is definitely the case. The achievement ideology is present everywhere you go. But I feel like people have to look at the cultural backgrounds of the students. it's not always the case that families believe in hard work dedication and further schooling to get a head. Sometimes the families cultural background says that the person has to work right out of high school and take care of their parents. it's a cultural stand point. I feel like the achievement ideology complete blocks this out and doesn't take this into account. I know that this is the case for many Polynesian cultures. But, it's something that is always looked passed.

the brothers

In the last chapter we read, the Brothers future has turned out to be similar to the hallway hangers. Although they are not doing drugs, they are working in low wage jobs. SOme of them have gotten a college degree, while others have joined the army or just worked. It is interesting to see where they were at. This is because the boys had such high hopes of getting out of the ghetto. THey wanted to make a life for themselves. I am not sure if they have given up on themselves, but it seems like they have given up on trying ot make a better life for themselves. They do not try and get great jobs or persue things that they want to do. One of them wanted to be a police man, but intern is not a person working for the airlines.

I have to say that I was rooting for these boys. They were minorities trying to make a difference in thier life and also their own families life. They are not stuck in the same place that the hallway hangers are in. Although they still have a better mentaility than the hallway hangers, they are lazy and are somewhat unsuccessfull in thier persuit of having a middle class life.

changing for the better?

The boys of the Hallway Hangers had a hard future in front of them. Faced with an unfair advantage, many of the Hallway Hangers were faced with challenges. In societies eyes, they were already failures at life. In turn, they also felt that way about themselves.
Many of the Hallway Hangers were setting themselves up for failure. Many of the boys were incarcerated, had children, hit high drug habits, sold drugs to make extra money and maintained low paying jobs or "under the table" jobs. If they weren't employed, they were unemployed. Many of them feel blessed to be alive. I believe it was Jinx or Boo-boo that said that they never expected to be alive. They thought they were going to be dead. Others have hit hard times and are coping with it. One of the boys had a girlfriend and daughter who passed away. That is a hard situation to recover from, especially when you think you have found a security that will back you up through the hard times and the bad.

Although many of them have "failed" at life, I believe that some of them have had success in some ways or another. Frankie is one that has really changed their life. He prays, goes to church, and does not drink or smoke. He has gone to some college training and has changed for the better. Even though Frankie was unemployed, I consider him to be a success story. He has changed his life. He never thought that this would happen to him, and I'm sure no one thought that this would happen. But this is inspiring because he did something that he thought he could never do. He changed his perspective on life, and has tried to make a better life for himself.

Achievement Ideology

The achievement ideology is the idea that the better yo do in school, and the higher the education you receive, the better the job you will receive will be. Basically the achievement ideology is the notion that socially perceived success is achieved through hard work and education. The Hallway Hangers totally reject this ideology. They believe that school is not going to help them in the long run. They feel that they can get jobs that require no HS diploma. They feel that the time they spend in class is worthless. They feel that tit will never take them anywhere. Another problem that the Hallway Hangers seem to encounter is having an authority figure tell them what to do. Authority to them means a sense of restriction. The teachers at LHS not only would hold authority over them, but would also keep the boys from striving to their fullest potential. Because the boys were labeled as "troubled", the Hallway Hangers had a lack of attention that ultimately deterred them from school, and also helped them reject the presence of authority.

THe brothers are the complete opposite. They accept the achievement ideology and feel that if they do work hard in school, and get a higher education, that they will achieve a socially precieved notion of success. Also, if they fail at something, it has nothing to do with their environment or people that are in their lives. Success soley depends on them. They also feel that failure solely depends on themselved. The Brothers Strive to be the best. They feel that they have equal opportunities towards the labor market, schools, etc.

The Hallway Hangers feel that nothing is given to them for free. THey feel that there a prejudice against them, and that minority groups, such as the Brothers, tend to get all of the attention. The Hallway Hangers feels like the world is against them while everyone else has opportunity knocking at their front door. This is interesting because in America, minority groups always seem to struggle, and always seem to be bypassed. Social discrimination as well as racial discrimination hardly falls upon white people.

This book is also shedding light on the social reproduction theory. The hallway Hangers seem to understand and know that they come from a low income neighborhood, they grew up in a low income neighborhood, their family has grown up in a low income neighborhood, and that is more than likely that THEY TOO will be living in a low income neighborhood. The Brothers seem to think that with the achievement ideology, they will get out of their low income status and move up to working, middle class living. It will not be easy for them, especially coming from a neighborhood who's reputation is looking so down upon. However, the boys share an interest in getting out of the neighborhood or at least making some money to support themselved at some level.

Money is the mans to end.

In this weeks reading, we found that the boys were aware of the importance of money in their lives. However, the two male groups are extremely different in their dreams and aspirations for themselves for the future.

The Hallway Hangers are extremely away of the odds that are against them economically and socially. First of all, they know that because they come from low-income housing developments of Clarendon Heights , they have a "reputation" that will follow them no matter where they go. They also understand that opportunities are small, and they feel that the life of the streets is the only way to be successful. They never know if they will be here today or gone tomorrow. They live their lives day to day. Success could be characterized by selling drugs or stealing. Any means of making money is the focus. The Hallway Hangers believe that talent and effort does not always yield success. In many of their eyes, jobs are made through connections. It doesn't matter what you have to offer. The Hallway Hangers feel that they are trapped in their situation. They see hurdles that they feel the brothers do not see or understand yet. The Hallway Hangers feel the Brothers are not as street savvy as they are, and feel like their dreams and aspirations will never become a reality. Although this is true, there are a few that want to make it. They want to get their family out of housing, and they want to make something out of themselves. On of the Hallway Hangers wanted to own his own company. It didn't matter how long it would take. He just wanted to own his own company. I feel that this is a highly ambitious attitude compared to most of the Hallway Hangers who are mostly pessimistic about their entire situation.

The Brothers on the other hand have more optimism about their options for the future. many oft them want high paying jobs such as architects, lawyers, doctors, businessman, and profession sports athelets. The Brothers feel optimistic and have focus on nice house, lawns, kids, and wonderful wives. However, it seems like the parents are the driving force behind the boys future. They want their sons to also get out of this social and economical situation that they are in. THe parents have told the boys to reach for the starts and the skies the limit. This philosophy fules the boys to have a middle class, stable, and comfortable lifestyle. Something that every parent wants for their child. The boys believe that if you put your mind to anything, you will reip rewards from it.

However, money is constantly the means in which the end of poverty will end. Both social groups want to get out of their suffering in the neighborhood. One just feels that they cannot get out of the situation no matter how hard they try. The Hallway Hangers understand that their success rate is close to 20%. The Brothers may know this, but still set personal goals to reach a higher status.

Ain't no making it

The book "Ain't no making it" is an interesting story of the different cultural aspects that are present in the world and the American society today. The author Jay MacLeod takes an interesting approach by looking at a low income housing, and seeing the different perspectives of the younger generation of boys within the community. The language of the two different groups (the brothers and the hallway hangers) were completely different. I think the contrast between the two groups are very different, even though they groups come from the same cultural background. The values of the groups are especially different. The Hallway Hangers seem to focus more on the things that could potentially help them get through the day. They feel that the image of being bad is the way that they can get through life. They smoke cigarettes, drink beer, and are psychologically dependant on marijuana. They may be psychologically dependant on other drugs as well. The Hallway hangers comprised of mostly white members. There are a few members that are African American. I thought that they might want to move on from the situation they were in, and would want to make a change in their life. However, they feel that they can't because of their socio-economical stature. They feel hopeless and feel that they are stuck in this situation, and will always be in this situation. Not only do they feel this way, they feel that success in school means that you don't be long in the neighborhood. Almost like, the people who are trying to get out of their situation are "shit heads" and don't belong, even if they are of the same socio-economic background. However, the boys of the the Hallway Hangers do have a sense of a cohesive unit. The boys depend on one another as if they were a tight nit family.

This is a contrast to the boys of the Brothers. The Brothers are a more focused group of brothers that want to make a change in their life. They feel the need to change their economic status and to get out of the ghetto as much as possible. This is caused because of the racist commentary that they endure every day. They do well in school, sports, and social life. They feel that failure is their fault. They view the Hallway Hangers as a group of low life punks that are simply lazy. The Brothers seem to have more of a focus and see to know where they are going and how they can get there. Although they have such positive outlooks on life, the boys are not as cohesive as the Hallway Hangers. They would fight for one another, but they also live lives outside of the group as well. They have steady girlfriends and sports that take priorities in their life.

I feel that these contrasts are so interesting. I find it interesting that the Brothers who are mostly comprised of minority groups are more motivated to change their life and get out of their low-income situation. In contrast, the Hallway Hangers feel that because they have been in this low-income situation for so long, there is no way they are going to get out of this. They feel that crime, drinking, and doing drugs is the only thing they will know how to do. It is always perceived the opposite way around. I think this goes to show that it has nothing to do with race, but has to do with class and socio-economic status.