Women and the Paradox of Inequality in the Twentieth Century

Throughout American history, male/female has defined an enduring binary embodied in access to jobs, income, and wealth.Women’s economic history shows how for centuries sex has inscribed a durable inequality into the structure of American labor markets that civil and political rights have moderated but not removed. This economic experience of women reflects the paradox of inequality in America: the coexistence of structural inequality with individual and group mobility.Women, like African Americans, have gained what T.H. Marshall labeled civil and political citizenship. No longer are they legally disenfranchised, and discrimination on account of race and gender is against the law. They have also increased their social citizenship, as represented by access to jobs and education, and women, in particular, benefit from many programs of the welfare state. Yet, they remain unequal. On the whole, they earn less than men, end up in occupational ghettos, bump up against glass ceilings, and find themselves, in relation to men, as poor as ever

Juvenile Corrections in the Era of Reform: A Meta-Synthesis of Qualitative Studies

In this article, the authors synthesize knowledge from select qualitative studies examining rehabilitation-oriented juvenile residential corrections and aftercare programs. Using meta-synthesis methodology, the authors extracted and coded content from 10 research studies conducted by five authors across criminology, sociology, and social welfare disciplines. The total number of published works based on those studies analyzed was 18. Collectively, these studies offer insight into three major components of the juvenile correctional experience: therapeutic treatment and evidence-based practices, the shaping of identities and masculinities, and preparation for reentry. This analysis is particularly important as the United States is currently in an era of reform during which policymakers are increasingly espousing the benefits of rehabilitation for youth offenders over punishment. These studies took place before, during, and after this era of reform, and yet, the findings are surprisingly consistent over time, raising key questions about the effectiveness of the reform strategies

Inside and out: Community reentry, continuity and change among formerly -incarcerated urban youth

Recent examinations of prisoner reentry for youth typically ignore both the lived experience of incarceration and the cultural milieu to which young people must return. Here, I examine incarceration and community reentry for a prospective, longitudinal sample of 15 young, black and Latino men returning to Philadelphia. I employ participant observation and in-depth interviews with the study participants for approximately three years, to answer the following: (1) How do they experience and interpret youthful incarceration? (2) How do they navigate the “dual transition” from facility to community and from adolescence into young adulthood? and (3) How do they approach the issue of personal change and with what apparent consequences? The case studies detailed here offer insight into the relationships between youth reentry, transitions to adulthood, and further offending for young men of color. Among this group, the transitions most frequently identified by scholars as facilitating desistance, or termination of criminal careers—marriage, fatherhood, and steady employment—are less likely to occur. I describe their attempts to establish households with the mothers of their children and argue that their marginal role in the labor market ultimately results in their failure to meet their own and their partners\u27 expectations for being a good father. I also illustrate a number of structural and cultural barriers to steady legal employment, including the increased use of pre-employment screening techniques and blurred moral and legal boundaries between the formal and informal economies. These family and labor market forces converge to increase the attractiveness of the underground economy, both as a means of regaining a lost sense of respect and for buying a financial stake in the household. Finally, I argue that young men of color experience incarceration as a cultural assault, eroding the institution\u27s legitimacy and ability to effect meaningful change. Because reform schools fail to acknowledge the structural sources of offending, ignore the importance of cultural identity, and offer little in the way of sustained support upon return to the community, they miss important opportunities for strengthening young men\u27s positions in the family and labor market and fail to alter their criminal trajectories

Inside and out: Community reentry, continuity and change among formerly -incarcerated urban youth

Recent examinations of prisoner reentry for youth typically ignore both the lived experience of incarceration and the cultural milieu to which young people must return. Here, I examine incarceration and community reentry for a prospective, longitudinal sample of 15 young, black and Latino men returning to Philadelphia. I employ participant observation and in-depth interviews with the study participants for approximately three years, to answer the following: (1) How do they experience and interpret youthful incarceration? (2) How do they navigate the “dual transition” from facility to community and from adolescence into young adulthood? and (3) How do they approach the issue of personal change and with what apparent consequences? The case studies detailed here offer insight into the relationships between youth reentry, transitions to adulthood, and further offending for young men of color. Among this group, the transitions most frequently identified by scholars as facilitating desistance, or termination of criminal careers—marriage, fatherhood, and steady employment—are less likely to occur. I describe their attempts to establish households with the mothers of their children and argue that their marginal role in the labor market ultimately results in their failure to meet their own and their partners\u27 expectations for being a good father. I also illustrate a number of structural and cultural barriers to steady legal employment, including the increased use of pre-employment screening techniques and blurred moral and legal boundaries between the formal and informal economies. These family and labor market forces converge to increase the attractiveness of the underground economy, both as a means of regaining a lost sense of respect and for buying a financial stake in the household. Finally, I argue that young men of color experience incarceration as a cultural assault, eroding the institution\u27s legitimacy and ability to effect meaningful change. Because reform schools fail to acknowledge the structural sources of offending, ignore the importance of cultural identity, and offer little in the way of sustained support upon return to the community, they miss important opportunities for strengthening young men\u27s positions in the family and labor market and fail to alter their criminal trajectories