Julie Bettie s Women Without Class Girls, Race, And...

Julie Bettie is a well-known sociology professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz for her study of feminism, cultural politics, gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity. In her book, Women Without Class: Girls, Race, and Identity, the author Julie Bettie gives a detailed representation of senior high school girls at a California high school. The book explains the ways in which class identity is created but also how social class alongside gender and race are crucial to ending inequality. Bettie mentions that girls are, in reality, engaged in an intricate process of identity formation that defines their choices and carves their futures, she also points to structural and past forces that form the lives of modern-day young women which include the increase of low-wage jobs, changes in family, and changing laws and bilingual education. As part of her research method for the book, Julie Bettie spent about a year observing and interviewing with more than 60 Mexican American girls an d white girls from middle-class families asking them about various subjects like school, family, friendships, college, popular culture, and their plans for their futures. She named the school â€Å"Waretown High School† in order to respect the students and people at the school. Her research revealed that class differences are part of our everyday lives however it is uncommon to talk about it openly. She talks about how class differences are one of the key sources to middle-class practices ofShow MoreRelatedCauses of Loitering Problems10544 Words   |  43 Pages565  © Sociologickà ½ à ºstav AV ÄÅ'R, v.v.i., Praha 2011 The Formation of Identity in Teenage Mall Microculture: A Case Study of Teenagers in Czech Malls* JANA SPILKOVà  and LUCIE RADOVà ** Charles University, Prague Abstract: Geographies of children and youth are a surprisingly neglected research topic in the transforming (post-communist) countries, where many societal changes are taking place. This article introduces a research project that focused on teenagers and their leisure-time activities, concentrating