File:1943 Whyte.jpg

{en} William Foote Whyte <1914-2000>. Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1943. / Reprinted in many editions.

Translations

• {it} Street corner society. Uno slum italo-americano, tr. Margherita Ciacci. Bologna: Il mulino, 2011.

Abstract

In the late 1930s, on a fellowship from Harvard University, Whyte lived in the North End of Boston, which was mostly inhabited by first- and second-generation immigrants from Italy. Whyte, who came from a well-to-do family, considered the neighborhood a slum, and wanted to learn more about its "lower class" society. Whyte lived in that district for three and a half years, including 18 months he spent with an Italian family. Through this work, Whyte became a pioneer in participant observation (which he called "participant observer research").

The book received little attention at the time it was originally printed, but when it was republished in 1955 it garnered critical praise and became a bestseller and a standard college text. It has since been translated into at least six different languages and reprinted in many editions (1955, 1981, 1993, ...)

"Questa celebre opera di Whyte rientra a pieno titolo nell'esigua schiera di quante hanno fatto la storia della ricerca sociale. Appartiene a quegli studi di comunità che dimostrano l'attitudine della sociologia a lavorare sul campo, ma anche a scrivere pagine affascinanti per il lettore. Basti ricordare, per quanto ci riguarda più da vicino, la ricerca di Banfield a Chiaromonte, da lui chiamata Montegrano, in Basilicata, alla metà degli anni '50. Analogamente, dietro la Cornerville di Whyte si nasconde il quartiere bostoniano di North End, una delle tante Little Italy che costellano le città americane, negli anni tra la Grande depressione e la seconda guerra mondiale. Analoga è la capacità di calarsi, grazie all'osservazione partecipante, all'interno della comunità studiata, tracciando un vivido quadro di persone reali in contesti reali (le gang di strada, i "corner boys", Chick Morelli e il suo circolo, il racket di Tony Cataldo). Analoga la longevità della ricerca. Da tempo indisponibile in italiano, il libro viene oggi riproposto dal Mulino in una nuova edizione."--Italian ed. (2016).

Contents

Cornerville and its people -- Corner boys and college boys -- Doc and his boys -- The members of the gang -- Bowling and social ranking -- The Nortons and the Aphrodite Club -- Doc's political campaign -- Disintegration -- Chick and his club -- The story of Chick Morelli -- Organizing the club -- Social activities -- Opposition to Chick -- The second season -- Disintegration -- Republican politics -- Chick Morelli's career -- Social structure and social mobility -- The nature of the groups -- The social role of the settlement house -- Loyalty and social mobility -- Racketeers and politicians -- The social structure of racketeering -- History of the rackets -- Organization of the policy racket -- Relations with the police -- The racketeer in his social setting -- The racketeer in the Cornerville S. and A. Club -- Tony Cataldo and the Shelby Street Boys -- Organizing the club -- Reorganizing the club -- The political issue -- The crisis and Tony Cataldo -- Tony's Beano Party -- The new administration -- Carlo and Tony -- Politics and the social structure -- The changing nature of political organization -- The political career -- Organizing the campaign -- Political rallies -- Election day -- The nature of political obligations -- conclusion -- The gang and the individual -- The social structure -- The problem of Cornerville. Appendix : On the evolution of "Street corner society" -- Personal background -- Finding Cornerville -- Planning the study -- First efforts -- Beginning with Doc -- Training in participant observation -- Venture into politics -- Back on Norton Street -- Replanning the research -- Again the corner gang -- Studying racketeering -- Marching on City Hall -- Farewell to Cornerville -- Cornerville revisited -- Reflections on field research.

About the author

William Foote Whyte (June 27, 1914 – July 16, 2000) was an American sociologist chiefly known for his ethnographic study in urban sociology, Street Corner Society. A pioneer in participant observation, he lived for four years in an Italian community in Boston while a Junior Fellow at Harvard researching social relations of street gangs in Boston's North End. He briefly returned to the University of Chicago in 1944, then joined the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University in 1948, remaining at Cornell for the remainder of his career.