In Ain't No Makin' It, the two groups of boys concerned are the Hallway Hangers and the Brothers. The Hallway Hangers are white youth, and they reject dominant societal values and have low aspirations. They were raised in families with a long history of living in public housing, they had absentee fathers, and their families had problems with the law. They see occupational opportunities as closed to them and feel that whatever their abilities and hard work ethics, their class position will always hinder their advancement. As a result, they consider school a waste of time and develop an achievement orientation grounded in the present. They become involved in drug and alcohol use, truancy, and petty crime. To the author, family, work and school socialize these working-class youth into working-class jobs with low aspirations.
The Brothers, who are African American, on the other hand, accept societal values and their parents have a significant impact on their aspirations as far as education and employment are concerned. They are optimistic and see opportunities open to them which come as rewards for hard work and their innate abilities. They accept schooling, and their teachers become a source of direction in their lives whom they trust and see as role models. They rationalize the positions of their parents as being due to discrimination, but have strong hopes for their own futures because they see the possibilities of upward mobility within a reformed, nondiscriminatory society. Their individual decisions are conceived within structured limits.
Eight years later, the Hallway Hangers have experienced imprisonment, unemployment, alcoholism, drug addiction, and have been employed in the "under the table" economy dealing crack cocaine and taking part in other criminal activities. Although they want to get ahead, they work at low-paying jobs doing seasonal work and this causes a desperation which influences their attitudes ...