AIN'T NO MAKIN' IT: Leveled Aspirations in a Low-Income Neighborhood

In this examination of the job aspirations of low-income teens, a young Rhodes scholar focuses on the factors that sustain social class inequality from generation to generation. MacLeod first discusses the several sociological theories that attempt to explain social reproduction patterns. Then, using extensive supporting research, he explores the influence of family, work, school, and culture on social reproduction, finding that the educational system plays perhaps the crucial role in the inheritance of social inequality. Unfortunately, MacLeod often writes in difficult sociological jargon; but his occasional use of vivid street-language, and interviews with gang members, add a lively note to this scholarly tome--and an intriguing appendix outlining his fieldwork methods and problems should prove useful to fellow researchers. High-rent scholarship.