The Unknown City: Lives of Poor and Working Class Young Adults

New research on unseen members of "Generation X"




Based on interviews with hundreds of African-American, white, and Latino men and women ages twenty-three to twenty-five in two large eastern cities (Buffalo, New York, and Jersey City, New Jersey), The Unknown City introduces members of Gen X who have been overlooked by the media. It describes their views —more often divergent than complementary —on race, affirmative action, jobs, domestic violence, education, and their communities, and reveals their struggles, hopes, and insights. This book will help shape key debates about policy and community.
"An ambitious look at those members of Generation X who are too often ignored. . . . Without preaching, they give readers a sense of the obstacles faced by Americans who must do without. This bleak and often poignant volume offers important insights into a critical but often overlooked part of our youth culture."


—Kirkus Reviews
"What begins as an academic study about social construction becomes a revealing glimpse into the world of those whose only connection to the popular Gen-X label is their birth date."


—Publishers Weekly

As advertisers continue refining their product pitches to affluent members of Generation X and demographers struggle to place those young adults in an easily recognizable category, the poor and working class, ages 25-35, are largely ignored and misrepresented. Fine and Weis (coauthors of Beyond Silenced Voices) explore this thesis by interviewing more than 150 men and women, of differing racial backgrounds, in Buffalo, N.Y., and Jersey City, N.J. The interview subjects discuss inequality, racism, domestic abuse, religion and police brutality. The authors find a sometimes startling range of opinions, illuminating differences in perception not just among racial and ethnic groups but also between people in the two cities. As the data and interviews show, one of the only things the subjects share is an undercurrent of anger toward Washington as well as toward members of their own groups. Fine and Weis address this hostility while delicately searching for signs of hope, creating a mixture of sociology, oral history and policy study. They use their graphs, figures and tables not only to present evidence of the perceptions of poor young adults but also to back up suggestions for change. What begins as an academic study about social construction becomes a revealing glimpse into the world of those whose only connection to the popular Gen-X label is their birthdate.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

An ambitious look at those members of Generation X who are too often ignoredthe poor and working classes. Fine (Social Psychology/CUNY Graduate Center; coauthor with Lani Guinier of Becoming Gentlemen, not reviewed) and Weis (Sociology/SUNY, Buffalo) split their survey sample three ways: by location, race, and gender. The authors conducted dozens of interviews with members of the underclasses of Buffalo, NY, and Jersey City, NJ, cities that have suffered a great loss of industry in the past few generations and therefore endure high levels of poverty and unemployment. Fine and Weis separated their sample into white, Latino, and black subsamples and male and female subsections, taking several chapters to address issues that are specific to each gender/racial group, regardless of the city. They comment that violence is a concern for all, although the type of violence varies from group to group. Females view domestic violence as a primary problem. White men consider neighborhood violenceparticularly as perpetrated by non-whitesto be the principal violence they must resist. However, black and Latino men regard systemic state violence (e.g., police brutality) as their foe. Fine and Weis draw few absolute conclusions in their complex work. They are able to generalize that while ``race, class and gender are socially constructed,'' they are also so deeply ingrained in ones identity that, for instance, readers cant not know even an `anonymous informants racial groupa conclusion they did not predict. Without preaching, they give readers a sense of the obstacles faced by Americans who must do without. This bleak and often poignant volume offers important insights into a critical but too often overlooked part of our youth culture. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.