Analysis Of Aint Any Makin It Sociology Essay

Analysis Of Aint Any Makin It Sociology Essay The essay is a critical analysis from a sociological point of view of the book ain’t No Making it, third edition by Jay McLeod and published in 2008. The author divided the book into three distinct parts; part one The Hallway Hangers and the Brothers as Teenagers, part two Eight Years Later; Low income, Low income and the last part Ain’t No makin’ It. Through the eyes of the two groups used by McLeod, the brothers (black minority boys) and the Hallways (white boys) we are able to clearly see what transpires in an American societal setting. The two groups lived and studied in the same conditions but each has varied expectations and aspiration, this is on the basis of their race. The Brothers viewed an open society as the way life should be lived and held the opinion that the difficulties they are going through is due to racism their ancestors underwent. For this reason, they try as much as possible to engage in socially acceptable manners. This group does have hi gh expectation as well as aspiration. On the other hand, the Hallways do not accept the same achievement ideology held by the Brothers. The individuals in this group have lost hope, do drugs, drop from school plus engaging in a myriad of other activities deemed illegal. From the author, the two groups did not get themselves out of poverty. The reason I bet is that there are numerous barriers in the society that blocked their quest of getting themselves out of poverty. It is worth noting that a number of other concepts from sociological point of view clearly emerge. These include social conflict, poverty, gender and racial inequality, males as role model, political power, defeatism, education and society/elites and generational mobility (McLeod 17). Social conflict From social conflict theory which argues that human beings as well as groups in a given society do at any given time have varied amount of both material and non material resources. For this reason, those deemed wealthy or rich and more powerful exploit the less privileged. Another theory that will be analyzed along the social conflict one is Bourdieu social reproductive theory which asserts that those kids born by working class parents will automatically end up finding better jobs. It is evident that the Brothers did acknowledge that the difficulties in life they are facing at present are nothing but as a result of the serious racial discrimination their fore fathers went through. A typical example of social conflict is in the field of education in the book. Those kids from lower class families are treated in a manner by the teachers that suggest they (students) are less competent. Thus they are placed in a lower track as they lack opportunities to develop their language. In this category, these students are only trained to later in life take blue color jobs while those from affluent families are trained to take white color jobs. Additionally, the two kinds of school, public and private provide us wi th a clear distinction between where kids from wealthy and poor background attend school (McLeod 287). On the same note, students from less privileged families are disadvantaged by their manners, the way they talk, dress and deemed not to be fit and valued in the education systems