The Unknown City: The Lives of Poor and Working-Class Young Adults Review

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The Unknown City: The Lives of Poor and Working-Class Young Adults ReviewThe Unknown City is an addition to the volumes of manipulative writing found in Sociology. Fine and Wise produce a skillfully constructed argument that exploits the critiques of white working and lower class men to benefit the writers' social positions and further their agenda. That agenda is characterized by their adherence to racially based social critiques instead of class based critiques. This substitution makes it easier to gloss over the fault of middle and upper classes in perpetuating racism and patriarchy, while using white working and lower class men as an acceptable scapegoat. The Unknown City is a tedious and bloated read because of the authors' over use of narration extracted from interviews. The authors' goal, to give a voice to those Generation - Xers located on the political periphery (2), is undermined by their prejudicial use of interviewee's comments. Despite shared discourse among racial groups, Fine and Wise feel justified in pointing a racially and patriarchally charged finger at white working and lower class men. They do so while elevating the African American and Latino participants to intellectuals (82) and politicians (107). To Fine and Weis, The Unknown City is an opportunity to implement "narrative affirmative action" (281). Some white male bashing is justified. Certainly white men within any class have enjoyed the benefits of their race, and Fine and Wise are precise in their explanation of white male dominance within the United States. Moreover, African Americans are undoubtedly the victims of an unfair cultural representation (59). Nevertheless, the forces that are used to explain the African American plight are the same ones used to explain the perpetuation of racism within the white lower class community. Why is it that white men are not victims as well? Why do Fine and Wise pay only minimal attention to the elitist influence of media and politics in the construction of reality for all races? Because the authors' are attempting to flip flop class based explanations, which have been established by writers such as William Julius Wilson (who they site as support for their argument), for racial solidarity explanations (46). What Fine and Wise fail to see, is the limited and elitist nature of their argument. By giving little attention to the magnitude of middle and upper class influence in racism and patriarchy they are excusing themselves. The Unknown City is little more than an overzealous attempt by two white affluent women to relate to the plight of the young urban poor. It will serve its middle to upper class audience well. The Unknown City will allow the reader to remain in their glass tower, while pointing the blame at those bad white working class racist and sexist males. Fine and Weis would not think to single out white upper class men as the creators and perpetuators of racial and gender hierarchy in this country. They simply engage in a form of racially acceptable male bashing at the expense of white working and lower class men who have little ammunition with which to fight back.The Unknown City: The Lives of Poor and Working-Class Young Adults Overview

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