Class Construction : White Working-Class Student Identity in the New Millennium

Explores the identity development of a group of white working-class high school students in a de-industrialized area of the Northeast. This ethnographic study explores class, racial and gender identity construction, and focuses on the ways the students' perceive it within the context of the school structure.

Class Construction explores class, racial, and gender identity construction among white, working-class students. Delving into River City High School, Freie asks what happens to the adolescent children of working-class families when economic changes such as globalization and technological advancements have altered the face of working-class jobs. Mass consumerism, greater availability of college level education, lack of a cohesive class identity, and racial and religious politics all combine to create a new working-class identity for today''s youth. Featuring interviews with the River City High School students, Class Construction aims to understand how class is conceptualized among American, working-class youths. Class Construction is ideal for courses on sociology, education, gender studies, and American studies, as well as high school educators and administrators.