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John Turner Essay

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Title: John Turner Essay


1
John Turner Essay Some Sociological Pointers
The story of John Turner sheds light on the
social situation of the young black inner-city
male.At present it is clear, many of these young
men and their female counterparts are being
written off by mainstream society, a truth they
know full well. And the world is poorer for
their loss. (p. 289)
2
A good starting point The Sociological
Imagination by C. Wright Mills
The sociological imagination enables its
possessor to understand the larger historical
scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life
and the external career of a variety of
individuals.
3
History and Biography
The sociological imagination enables us to grasp
history and biography and the relations between
the two within society. That is its task and its
promise No social study that does not come back
to the problems of biography, of history and of
their intersections within a society has
completed its intellectual journey.
4
Personal Troubles and Public Issues
Perhaps the most fruitful distinction with which
the sociological imagination works is between
the personal troubles of milieu and the public
issues of social structure. This distinction is
an essential tool of the sociological imagination
and a feature of all classic work in social
science.
5
Personal Troubles and Public Issues
Troubles occur within the character of the
individual and within the range of his immediate
relations with others.A trouble is a private
matter values cherished by an individual are
felt by him to be threatened.
6
Personal Troubles and Public Issues
Issues have to do with matters that transcend
these local environments of the individuals and
the range of his inner life. They have to do
with the organization of such milieux into the
institutions of an historical society as a
wholeAn issueoften involves a crisis in
institutional arrangements
7
Personal Troubles and Public Issues
In these terms, consider unemployment. When, in
a city of 100,000, only one man is unemployed,
that is his personal trouble, and for its relief
we properly look to the character of the man, his
skills, and his immediate opportunities. But
when in a nation of 50 million employees, 15
million men are unemployed, that is an issue, and
we may not hope to find its solution within the
range of opportunities open to any one
individual.
8
Using Mills concepts to make a sociological
reading of John Turners life
  • How does history and biography intersect for
    John Turner? How would his life have been
    different if he had been born twenty years
    earlier? What historical social changes lie
    behind his biography?
  • How are John Turners personal troubles related
    to public issues? What institutional
    arrangements are called into question by his life?

9
The New Urban Poverty For William Julius Wilson,
what one single factor is the defining feature of
both the new urban poverty and John Turners life?
  • Joblessness
  • Joblessness changes the meaning of poverty and
    what it means to be poor and black
  • The new urban poverty is a critical part of John
    Turners life

10
For Wilson, the new urban poverty changes all
sorts of things
  • family structure
  • class and racial identity
  • the whole structure of opportunity
  • the nature of community

11
Wilson insists on placing the behavior of the
John Turners of the world in a larger social
context
The social action--including behavior, habits,
skills, styles, orientations, attitudesought not
to be analyzed as if it were unrelated to the
broader structure of opportunities and
constraints that have evolved over timedecisions
and actions occur within a context of constraints
and opportunities that are drastically different
from those present in middle-class society.
(When Work Disappears, p. 55)
12
Are John Turners constraints structural or
cultural in nature?
Ghetto-related behaviors often represent
particular cultural adaptations to the systematic
blockage of opportunities in the environment of
the inner city and the society as a whole. These
adaptations are reflected in habits, skills,
styles and attitudes that are shaped over time.
(p. 72)
13
What has caused the joblessness that Wilson sees
as devastating poor black communities?
  • Deindustrialization
  • The shift to a service economy
  • Government policies
  • An inadequate war on poverty
  • Suburbanization and the urban crisis

14
Collins and Yeskel provide a broader context the
increasing inequality within U.S. society and
around the globe.
  • How is John Turners life shaped by such factors
    as
  • shifts in who holds power?
  • the rise of neoliberalism, with its hostility to
    government and its faith in market solutions?
  • changes in the rules of the domestic and global
    economy?

15
Other Questions...
Does John Turner lack what Bourdieu calls social
and cultural capital?
Is Turners hustling an example of what Scott
calls weapons of the weak?
16
  • Is Andersons notion of code of the street a
    helpful way of understanding John Turner?
  • What do we learn from the story of Robert
    about the difficulties of leaving the world of
    the street behind?

Elijah Anderson
17
  • Reminders
  • These are suggestions for ways to approach John
    Turners story--youre not expected to follow up
    on all of them
  • Read the assignment carefully before you start
    outlining or writing
  • Integrate those aspects of the readings you find
    most useful to make an argument about John
    Turners life and what needs to be done to stop
    this sort of tragedy
  • Review the checklist after you have written your
    paper to make sure youve met the requirements.
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