Ain't No Makin' It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood, Second Edition with a New Foreword by Joe Feagin (Paperback)

by Jay Macleod (Author), Joe R Feagin (Introduction) "ANY CHILD CAN GROW UP TO BE PRESIDENT..." (more)
Key Phrases: hallway hangers, achievement ideology, youth enrichment program, Clarendon Heights, New York, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

With the original 1987 publication of Ain't No Makin' It Jay MacLeod brought us to the Clarendon Heights housing project where we met the "Brothers" and "Hallway Hangers." Their story of poverty, race, and defeatism moved readers and challenged ethnic stereotypes. MacLeod's return eight years later, and the resulting 1995 revision, revealed little improvement in the lives of these men as they struggled in the labor market and crime-ridden underground economy. This classic ethnography addresses one of the most important issues in modern social theory and policy: how social inequality is reproduced from one generation to the next. Now republished with a preface by Joe Feagin, Ain't No Makin' It remains an admired and invaluable text.

About the Author

A Rhodes scholar, Jay MacLeod holds degrees in social studies and theology. He and his wife, Sally Asher, spent four years in Mississippi, where their work with local teenagers led to the publication of Minds Stayed on Freedom: The Civil Rights Struggle in the Rural South, An Oral History (WestviewPress). MacLeod is now an Anglican priest in Chesterfield, a declining mining and market town in Asher's native England.

Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Westview Press; 2nd edition (August 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813341876
• ISBN-13: 978-0813341873
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #443,667 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving and Troublesome, September 7, 2003

By	Matthieu P. Raillard (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Ain't No Makin' It: Aspirations And Attainment In A Low-income Neighborhood, Expanded Edition (Paperback)

I read this years ago in an anthropology/sociology class in college, and I can say that it still carries as much weight today as it did then. Jay manages to weave entertaining narration with factual reporting, resulting in a moving work that points a critical finger at our society. I've actually met the author, and can say that he is an honest, engaging and professional writer. At no point did he milk the drama angle of this work, nor use it to further his own agenda. I noticed another reviewer called this book "socialist junk"; to this person I say: just because this work is a testament to some of the failures of America's precious capitalist model does not immediately make it socialist. Moreover, if socialism means having a conscience about racism and socioeconomic discrimination, then sign me up!

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Truth About Poverty in America, December 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ain't No Makin' It: Aspirations And Attainment In A Low-income Neighborhood, Expanded Edition (Paperback)

This book gives an excellent insight into the lives of teenagers living in a low-income neighborhood. The book calls into question the American achievement ideology and forces the reader to reconsider his or her pre-concieved notions on poverty and its causes. The truth is that people aren't poor because they are lazy; they are poor because of numberous structural barriers in society that basicly trap them into poverty. This book is excellent for anyone interested in the social structure, but it would be better for someone who has never thought about the way society works and has the kind of closed-mindedness that cause many upper and middle-class people to view people of lesser social standing as lazy.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The American Achievement Ideology is False, June 2, 2000

By	Kate Martin (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ain't No Makin' It: Aspirations And Attainment In A Low-income Neighborhood, Expanded Edition (Paperback)

This book explores the lives of two groups of inner-city teenagers. One group adamently believes in the achievement ideology, and the other group rejects it. Hence the title, the outcome for both groups is the same. I recommend this book to those who refuse to cast away their pre-conceived notions that those who live in poverty are lazy and stupid. This book is a painfully real account of the different ways in which society plays a detrimental role in the lives of the less fortunate, while allowing the upper class to place the blame on the victims themselves (in the name of the acheivement ideology).