Class Reunion ─ The Remaking of the American White Working Class

Weis (sociology of education, U. of Buffalo, State U. of New York) presents findings from a 2000-2001 follow-up study of 31 high school students from a de-industrializing town in the northeastern U.S. whom she first interviewed in 1985 and described in Working Class Without Work (Routledge, 1990). Through a detailed look at the high school and young adult years of her subjects, the author examines the reshaping of the white working class, with a focus on issues related to whiteness, masculinity, femininity, representations, and the new economy. She argues that, contrary to popular images of "the disappearing working class," American white working class is very much alive and has re-articulated itself as a distinct class fraction in the past 25 years. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Lois Weis is Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at the State University of New York at Buffalo. She is the author of several books including The Unknown City, Beyond Black and White , Off White and Working Class without Work.