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| Women without Class: Girls, Race, and Identity | 
 enlarge | Author: Julie Bettie
Publisher: University of California Press
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
Buy New: $15.00
You Save: $8.95 (37%)
Buy New/Used from $9.45
Avg. Customer Rating:  (3 reviews)
Sales Rank: 434099
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 260
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7
ISBN: 0520235428
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.235
EAN: 9780520235427
ASIN: 0520235428
Publication Date: December 2, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
In this examination of white and Mexican-American girls coming of age in California's Central Valley, Julie Bettie turns class theory on its head and offers new tools for understanding the ways in which class identity is constructed and, at times, fails to be constructed in relationship to color, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. Documenting the categories of subculture and style that high school students use to explain class and racial/ethnic differences among themselves, Bettie depicts the complex identity performances of contemporary girls. The title, Women Without Class, refers at once to young working-class women who have little cultural capital to enable class mobility, to the fact that class analysis and social theory has remained insufficiently transformed by feminist and ethnic studies, and to the fact that some feminist analysis has itself been complicit in the failure to theorize women as class subjects. Bettie's research and analysis make a case for analytical and political attention to class, but not at the expense of attention to other axes of identity and social formations.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Good Point, Painful Read March 3, 2005
2 out of 10 found this review helpful
What really endangered the success of Bettie's message was not humanly bias, but her writing style. Bettie tries so hard to convince the reader that her study is important that she becomes verbose; she spends so much time telling us everyone else has it wrong (except for her) that her tone goes from conviction and pleasantly tenacious to grating. The complexity of the issue need not result in literary inaccessibility. Bettie's sentences stretch into several lines and her chapters become bloated when they could easily be summed up by what most people already know: we're missing the rest of the picture if we just focus on gender--it's a more complex issue...otherwise known as: you can't see the forest for the trees.
 best book I've read all year July 10, 2003
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
"Women without Class" is a tour de force of exceptional scholarly research and keen social observation. Bettie does a tremendous job exploring how class operates in many powerful, yet subtle ways in the lives of young women in one California high school. She highlights the role of economics, but also addresses issues of race/ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. Through sustained, in-depth ethnographic research, Bettie illuminates the complex social dynamics of a community and brings the personalities, experiences and worries of these young women to life. The book is honest and sharp, reading almost like a novel. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in sociology, education, youth, race/ethnic relations, or gender.
Great Read for those working with Teens July 3, 2003
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
As a person who works daily with young people both in and out of academic settings, I found this book gave a fresh perspective on how we view teenagers (both men and women) and the influence we have on their lives; especially those influences that are unconcious on our part. It changed the way I perceive my students and gave me new tools for communication. I also thought it was a terrific read; often dramatic and moving. I highly reccomend this book to anyone whose work or lives are connected with young people in America.
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