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Hallway Hangers Chapter Summary

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a reverse discrimination. They therefore try to make a point saying that they do not have equal access to achieAt first sight, someone might argue that Hallway Hangers would have higher aspirations in life assuming that they would have come from typically a wealthier family and one that would put more stress on going to college and striving to achieve the so called “The American Dream”. This also goes for the Brothers whose background would tend not to put stress on a higher education and not have as many assets to have higher aspirations in life. However, in this book we see that these logical assumptions were not the case in these two groups. In fact, the Brother had higher aspirations in life than did the Hallway Hangers. The Hallway Hangers reject the achievement ideology. …show more content…

The brothers who are mostly black can point to racial discrimination as a cause of their family’s poverty. Also another reason the hallway hangers reject the achievement ideology is because most of them have lived in low icome housing for as long as three decades as a result, this contributes to their feeling of hopelessness and stagnation they are pessimistic about their future. The brothers however, have resided at the Clarendon Heights neighbourhood for shorter periods of time. Some of the families of the brothers have moved from worse projects in the area, so they view this change as a step up in their social status and a sense of optimism for a fresh start. After the post modern shift from from manufacting jobs to service industry based employment many members of poorer black neighborhoods will feel the effects harder and longer then that of gentrified or white neighborhoods. Most service industry or “blue collered” jobs require some skills or education to be sucessful, as a result of neither group possesses these qualities, they are cast out as abaondoned by soceity. “The American Dream” may be but a mirage. Still, it

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