From the Edge of the Ghetto

Alford A. Young, Jr., is Arthur F. Thurnau professor of sociology, Afroamerican and African Studies at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy (by courtesy) at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on how African Americans construct understandings of themselves and social reality. Young has previously published Are Black Men Doomed? and The Minds of Marginalized Black Men.

• Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: Feeling the End of Industrialism 1 Bringing Myself to the Edge 2 On the Doorstep of Ann Arbor and in the Shadow of Detroit 3 Experiencing the World of Work in a City on the Edge Part II: Fitting into the Postindustrial World 4 Imagining the Good Job in a City on the Edge 5 The Work Ethic in Principle and in Practice 6 Engaging the Future: Women versus Men Conclusion: Place and Possibility for Small-City Black Americans Appendix: Portrait of the Research Participants References

Narrowly focused on how low-skilled African American workers in the small city of Ypsilanti, Michigan, perceive the world of work, this participant-observer study illuminates the plight of a distinctive Black, urban workforce. This book might prove useful to advanced students and scholars. Recommended.