Author Description
One In Two White Youth Born Into The Upper-middle-class Will Fall From It. Drawing Upon Ten Years Of Longitudinal Interviews With Over 100 American Youth, This Book Shows Which Upper-middle-class Youth Are Most Likely To Fall, How They Fall, And Why They Do Not See It Coming. The Book Shows That Upper-middle-class Youth Inherit Different Amounts Of Academic Knowledge, Institutional Insights, And Money From Their Parents. Those Raised With More Resources Enter Class Reproduction Pathways, While Those Raised With Fewer Resources Enter Downwardly Mobile Paths. Of Course, Upper-middle-class Youth Whose Families Give Them Few Resources Could Switch Courses By Drawing Upon The Resources In Their Community. They Rarely Do. Instead, They Internalize Identities That Reflect Their Resource Weaknesses And Encourage Them To Maintain Them. Those Who Fall Are Then Youth Raised With Resource Weaknesses And They Fall By Internalizing Identities That Encourage Them To Maintain Them. They Are Often Surprised By Their Downward Mobility As They Observed Other Time Periods In Which Their Resources And Identities Kept Them Or Their Parents In Their Class-- Provided By Publisher.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This book investigates the mechanisms behind downward mobility among American youth born into the upper-middle class. Author Jessi Streib, a sociologist, utilizes a decade of longitudinal data and over 100 in-depth interviews to analyze how parental resource allocation—specifically academic knowledge, institutional insight, and financial support—shapes the life trajectories of young adults. The work argues that the internalization of specific identities, rather than external circumstances alone, often dictates whether an individual maintains their class status or experiences a decline.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Longitudinal data tracking over 100 American youth over a ten-year period.
- Analysis of class reproduction pathways versus downward mobility trajectories.
- Examination of how community resources are underutilized by those in decline.
Scope Limits
- The study focuses primarily on the American upper-middle-class experience.
- It does not provide a comprehensive guide for reversing downward mobility, but rather analyzes the sociological factors contributing to it.
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Sociologists and educators frequently cite this work for its rigorous qualitative methodology and its contribution to the study of social stratification. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which provides a detailed look at the intersection of identity formation and economic status.
Page Count:
0
Publication Date:
2020-01-01
Publisher:
New York, NY : Oxford University Press,
ISBN-10:
0190854081
ISBN-13:
9780190854089
History
Education
Social Mobility
White People
Middle class
American Studies
Social Class
Sociology
Race Identity