ABSTRACT
Hopelessness is the most striking aspect of Freddie's outlook. Erik H. Erikson writes that hope is the basic ingredient of all vitality; stripped of hope, one has little left to lose. The depressed aspirations of Clarendon Heights youngsters are telling. There is a strong relationship between aspirations and occupational outcomes; if individuals do not even aspire to middle-class jobs, then they are unlikely to achieve them. Several decades of quantitative sociological research have demonstrated that the social class into which one is born has a massive influence on where one will end up. Even at its worst, however, Clarendon Heights is not a bad place to live compared to many inner-city housing projects. This relatively small development, set in a working-class neighbourhood, should not be confused with the massive, scarred projects of the nation's largest cities. Clarendon Heights is well known to the city's inhabitants.
