Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780226895451)

Street Corner Society is one of a handful of works that can justifiably be called classics of sociological research. William Foote Whyte's account of the Italian American slum he called "Cornerville"-Boston's North End-has been the model for urban ethnography for fifty years.

By mapping the intricate social worlds of street gangs and "corner boys," Whyte was among the first to demonstrate that a poor community need not be socially disorganized. His writing set a standard for vivid portrayals of real people in real situations. And his frank discussion of his methodology-participant observation-has served as an essential casebook in field research for generations of students and scholars.

This fiftieth anniversary edition includes a new preface and revisions to the methodological appendix. In a new section on the book's legacy, Whyte responds to recent challenges to the validity, interpretation, and uses of his data. "The Whyte Impact on the Underdog," the moving statement by a gang leader who became the author's first research assistant, is preserved.

"Street Corner Society broke new ground and set a standard for field research in American cities that remains a source of intellectual challenge."-Robert Washington, Reviews in Anthropology

Author: William Foote Whyte
ISBN-10: 0226895459
ISBN-13: 9780226895451
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Language: English
Published: 06/01/1993
Pages: 418
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 8.46h x 5.41w x 1.12d