Slim's Table: Race, Respectability, and Masculinity

Slim's Table: Race, Respectability, and Masculinity

By: Mitchell Duneier  

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Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5

Publisher: University Of Chicago Press

Customer Review: 4 out of 5
A Sad Story - Mitchell Duneier's Slim's Table begins with a sad story. Bart was a young man from Kentucky who started undergraduate school at the University of Chicago in 1928. Unfortunately, he never finished college and never became a doctor as he had planned. Instead, he became a career file clerk. He remained in the city of Chicago and died there in the 1980's.

Why were Bart's career aspirations dashed? We are told that the economic rigors of the Great Depression put an early end to his schooling. However, one cannot help but wonder whether Bart's problems were entirely economic in nature, or whether he was in fact an academic casualty case. Although the book does not explicitly make this point, it is a fact that the number of such cases is not small. "Chicago," as it is known in the academic ivory tower, has long had a high attrition rate. The students, who usually refer to is as "the U of C," know that it is a demanding place. Some fare very well, some take years and decades to finish their degree programs, and some never finish at all.

Not only is the U of C a tough school, but the surrounding neighborhood is tough in its own right, and life in this neighborhood is the subject of the book. Hyde Park, as it is called, is bordered on three sides by ghetto and one side by water. Even with heavy patrolling by the university's private police force, the fear of street crime persists. This fear of crime casts a dark shadow over community life.

Now comes the subject of food. For Duneier, the author of the present work, food is an important topic, and people's dining spots are a laboratory in which much sociological data can be collected. Like most university neighborhoods, Hyde Park has its share of eateries. Duneier's account focusses on Valois, which was a place where people of different walks of life regularly met and congregated. Though some of Valois' customers (including Duneier himself) were university people, the majority were working people who lived in Hyde Park or surrounding areas. As such, Valois became the venue for a rich urban culture.

Bart, the retired file clerk and former U of C student, ate regularly at Valois. Bart was white, and at Valois, he became friends with Slim, who was a black car mechanic who lived and worked in the ghetto. Bart had grown up in the South and had internalized the racist attitudes with which he was raised. In spite of this early conditioning, he eventually came to recognize Slim as an equal. Slim defies popularized negative characterizations of the black male, and Duneier goes to considerable lengths to drive home this point. Slim had a strong moral constitution, was keenly interested in current events, and cared deeply about the welfare of the community in which he had grown up. He remembered warmly a time in which the black community was beset by fewer urban problems than those that developed later, and was saddened by the moral decay that in his view had taken place during his life.

Although the black ghetto surrounding Hyde Park is mostly poor, Chicago also has well-to-do black neighborhoods. In observing the behaviors of the more affluent blacks, Slim saw as much a decay in values as he did among the poor. Frequently, the more affluent blacks were given to the same habits of conspicuous consumption that are seen the general population. Accordingly, they would eat at more expensive restaurants, even though the food at working-class spots such as Valois was of comparable quality. In Slim's view, this behavior served to fragment the black community along class lines when more unity was needed.

Bart and Slim were certainly both men of fine character, and perhaps if everyone shared their sensitivity, the world would be a better place. Should we be surprised to learn that such people exist? Rather than being encouraged, the reader would like to know what needs to be done to arrest the urban decay about which Slim was so terribly concerned. As Duneier explains it, the proximity of the U of C to the black ghetto has served to make the latter the subject of much sociological research; the present book represents the furthering of that intellectual tradition. As far as solving the problems that beset urban communities, the solution remains as much a mystery as ever. The existence of upstanding men like Slim and Bart does little in itself to offer any real hope. In this respect, Slim's Table tells a sad story, and the overriding impression with which the reader is left is certainly not a happy one.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
sensitive, respectful, and credible - In Slim's Table, Mitchell Duneier describes and analyzes social interactions among a culturally diverse group, based on his observations and interviews conducted with regulars of the traditional cafeteria "Valois" in Chicago. The customers are mainly older black men of the lower working class living in the nearby ghetto, but also include members of the white population, younger age groups, and members of the middle-class. Duneier shows that his impression of the black men's identity differs greatly from the negative stereo-typical image, but he also admits that his findings are not representative and, therefore, cannot be generalized.
Duneier divided the book into four parts, starting with observations on the micro level and ending with considerations in more general terms on the macro level. Part One, "The Caring Community", focuses on the social and emotional relationships between the regulars of the "Valois" cafeteria. Illustrated by a variety of examples, the reader receives an insight into how the value system of the black lower working class is shaped by a strong sense of tolerance, friendship, responsibility, and respect for others and themselves. Subsequently, Duneier points out the black men's attributive roles and images, then compares them to his own findings.
After a description of the "Valois" cafeteria and its significance for the regulars, Part Two, "The Moral Community", deals with the standard of respectability expressed by members of the black lower working class about their own class and the black middle and upper classes. The discussion includes the thesis that not only the economically successful members of the black middle and upper classes can function as role models but that the morality of the lower working class can be considered exemplary for the black youth as well.
Part Three, "Membership in Society", focuses on the position of the African American population in a white society. Referring to the particular setting of the "Valois", it is reported that the interactions between black regulars and members of other social groups, especially white people, seem to be free of any racial prejudices. Although it is obvious that these positive interracial relations at "Valois" do not reflect reality outside, inside they help both blacks and whites achieve a source of mutual respect, leading to a better feeling about themselves.
Finally, in Part Four, "You're White, He' Black, I'm a Sociologist: Who's Innocent?", Duneier asks who can be held responsible for the long-lasting negative image of African American men of the lower class. In this context, he refers to the innocence that members of the white population feel and express about their negative depictions. Moreover, he criticizes the superficial manner in which journalists, as well as sociologists, investigate and oversimplify the black culture.
Mitchell Duneier sees his book at the beginning of a new tradition which will portray the African American people in an appropriate and truthful way. His sensitive, respectful, and credible representation of the black male regulars at "Valois" as an exemplary community suggests the necessity of redefining the identity of the black ghetto-specific masculinity.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
You won't be sorry you read this - Whether its your major, for an intro class, or just for fun, everyone can walk away with something from this book. Its written well, and really makes you think about our society.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
You won't be sorry you read this - Whether its your major, for an intro class, or just for fun, everyone can walk away with something from this book. It written well, and really makes you think about our society.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Sociology with a Human Face - I've read other sociological works on inner city residents and was invariably disturbed by the soulless way in which the subjects were portrayed. No doubt, the authors of those works would defend their method as being objective and showing rigor. However, at some level, the objectivity becomes stultifying and numbing.

Duneier cuts through all of this by portraying real people as human beings for whom he cares deeply. At the same time, he is able to pull back from the personal stories and draw conclusions that are intellectually sound. One feels a deep sense of pride in the men whose lives are profiled in Slim's Table and a lingering sense of regret that they seem to be a dying breed.

This book is the rare work that appeals in equal parts to the intellect and the soul.

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