ABSTRACT
A male passenger on a local bus in a poor, largely Black city asked another passenger how much she charged an hour. Immediately declaring she was not a prostitute, the woman, who was a sociologist doing a study in the area, realized that young Black women like her alone on the bus were likely to face such questions. Or worse. She went on to explain the physical dangers women in that section of the city encountered, and the careful planning in which many of them engaged to protect themselves.
People facing the scourges of poverty, racism, and/or sexism are likely to live in a world that is both painful and destructive. This opening chapter illustrates how such useful concepts as social reproduction, intersectionality, and ideology examine the various social forces that impact individuals and groups, providing disadvantages or advantages in their access to the valued economic and social resources in our society. While a person’s inborn qualities contribute, evidence presented throughout the book indicates that the conditions they encounter, starting in childhood, strongly influence their level of success in life or often the lack of it.
