Racial divides between inner-city black boys (Brothers) and inner-city white boys (Hallway Hangers)show that race relations have a long way to go in the United States, according to McLeod. Pierre has shared his perspectives on the issue.
Understanding Social Conflict: My View From Ain’t No Making’ It
By Jay MacLeod
There is an old adage in Haitian Creole which goes, Sa-ou fe, se li ou-we, which literally means you see what you do. If I want to translate that same old saying to American English, it would translate as, you reap what you sow. As you can see, I have begun my reflection this week with a dual understanding about linguistic codes.
In Ain’t No Makin’ It, Jay MacLeod describes as exhaustively as he can what he understands to be the unequal opportunity in American schooling for inner-city black boys and inner-city white boys. I have some supplementary ideas that I wish to share although they may not be conventional in the discipline of urban sociology.
Before I attempt to share my ideas, I would like to outline the main concepts of Bourdieu’s social reproduction theory. He believes that working class children usually have a tendency to end up in working class jobs. Furthermore, he observes that, like other theorists such as Emile Durkheim, Max Weber and Karl Marx, among others, the class structure is reproduced from one generation to the next via the school system. From a determinism theory point of view, a predefined role helps determine the perpetuation of class role. I believe individual determination and self-aspirations are still part of the human make-up.
I have no doubt that the linguistic cultural capital approach that Basil Berstein and Shirley Brice Heath are exposing are valid and deserve some credibility. I agree, for instance, that the restricted linguistic codes used by the working-class children create a disadvantage in school since their counterpart use elaborated codes which are the codes used mostly in the academic setting in school.
Nevertheless, if the working class families were to mentally reverse the trend by becoming more honest with themselves, they could become as explicitly interested in improving their children’s education. For instance, I am the product of a proletariat family from Haiti. My parents worked day and night under the exploitation of Haitian factory owners all their life. But an agreement and a commitment were made among all my thirteen other siblings that we would complete high school and opt for a better outcome. Although, we did not all excel in school, we were able to decode the linguistic barrier that keeps most of other Haiti’s working class children behind.
In the United States, the challenges are real and life is very difficult for the working families. But the school is still an avenue where working class families can make sure that they can receive a return on their investment: they should make sure that their working tax dollars are spent equitably for all children attending public schools including their own children.
In Ain’t No Makin’ It, habitus played a major role in the lives of the Brothers (inner-city black boys) and the Hallway Hangers (inner-city white boys). There were unable to see past their immediate conditions and despairs. They could not become individuals. They were trapped in the collective failure of intergenerational cycle of poverty. If they had any role models, they were negative. Most of these boys who grew up without their fathers experienced great anger and grief.
In my understanding of achievement ideology and cultural capital, I would account for the divergence in the outlook between the Hallway Hangers and the Brothers in terms of how the dominant culture paints race relations in America. Even though, both of the groups were impoverished, the dominant culture assures a better outcome for the Hallway Hangers over the Brothers. I understand McLeod’s study was just a sample of the working class in America’s cities. Nevertheless, I believe his studies still reflect a reality that America can’t deny.
Does the educational system play any role on the Hallway Hangers and the Brothers? An education is not a luxury, but a need in this country. I see a great benefit in attending school. However, until the United States recognizes the fact that this country represents various ways of interpreting information based on different linguistic codes vis a vis different social and cultural classes, the way education is prescribed as we know it in our public school will be an enormous detriment to the characters being analyzed above.
At this time, I have not constructed a theory that would bring about social equality in the way education is prescribed. But I remember my parents were a great inspiration in helping me to make my own miracle. That is, even in Haiti, where the colonizers have stripped the colonized of almost all of their economic ingredients to allow educational equality, the aspiring working parents have found ways to help their children identify some of the linguistic codes of the Parisian French which is a must for any professional opportunity in Haiti.
In conclusion, individual growth requires self-actualization. I think with a little bit of intrinsic motivation, the Brothers can change things around. Sa ou fe, se li ou we (you reap what you sow).
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