ABSTRACT
Culture ... is more like a style or a set of skills and habits than a set of preferences or wants. If one asked a slum youth why he did not take steps to pursue a middle-class path to success ... the answer might well be not "I don't want that life," but instead, "Who, me?" One can hardly pursue success in a world where the accepted skills, styles, and informal know-how are unfamiliar. One does better to look for a line of action for which one already has the cultural equipment.
