The Unknown City

As advertisers continue refining their product pitches to affluent members of Generation X and demographers struggle to place those young adults in an easily recognizable category, the poor and working class, ages 25-35, are largely ignored and misrepresented. Fine and Weis (coauthors of Beyond Silenced Voices) explore this thesis by interviewing more than 150 men and women, of differing racial backgrounds, in Buffalo, N.Y., and Jersey City, N.J. The interview subjects discuss inequality, racism, domestic abuse, religion and police brutality. The authors find a sometimes startling range of opinions, illuminating differences in perception not just among racial and ethnic groups but also between people in the two cities. As the data and interviews show, one of the only things the subjects share is an undercurrent of anger toward Washington as well as toward members of their own groups. Fine and Weis address this hostility while delicately searching for signs of hope, creating a mixture of sociology, oral history and policy study. They use their graphs, figures and tables not only to present evidence of the perceptions of poor young adults but also to back up suggestions for change. What begins as an academic study about social construction becomes a revealing glimpse into the world of those whose only connection to the popular Gen-X label is their birthdate. (Mar.)