A rare 15-year ethnography this book follows the lives of individual low-income African American youth from the beginning of high school into their early adult years. Levine shows how their interaction and experience with multiple institutions (family school community) and individuals (parents friends teachers coaches strangers) shape their hopes fears aspirations and worldviews. The intersectionality of their social identitiesâhow race class and gender come together to influence how they come to think about who they areâinfluences many behaviors that directly contradict their stated aspirations. Affected too by limited access to resources these youths often take a path profoundly different from their stated values and life goals. Levine explores the volatility and constraints underlying their decision-making and behaviors. The book reveals the critical junctures and turning points shaping life trajectories challenging many long-held assumptions about the persistence of racial inequality by offering new insights on the educational and occupational barriers facing young African Americans. . Language: English