ABSTRACT
Sociologist Dawn Marie Dow draws on interviews with African American middle- and upper-middle-class mothers to show how the controlling image of the “thug” shapes the concerns these mothers have for their sons and how they parent their sons in light of those concerns. By examining these mothering practices, Dow illuminates the strategies mothers use to prepare their sons to address gendered racism through managing the expression of their masculinity, racial identity, and class status.
