Street Corner Society (originally titled Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum) is an ethnography written by William Foote Whyte and published in 1943. It was Whyte's first book. It received little attention when it was first published, but upon being reissued in 1955 it became a bestseller as well as a standard college text, and established Whyte's reputation as a pioneer in participant observation.
Background
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. <!--The neighborhood was considered dangerous and crime was prevalent. Some Italians were suspected to be potential allies of Italian fascism under Benito Mussolini.--> 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"). Former Boston city councilman Frederick C. Langone, who lived in the North End and knew Whyte personally, believed Whyte had mischaracterized the neighborhood:
:What his book did to the North End was to make it look like everybody was in some kind of racket....In fact, the exact opposite was true....William Whyte's book Street Corner Society was required reading in every college. Consequently, students got the wrong perception of the North End and the Italian-American inhabitants.
See also
- Slumming
- Italian Americans in Boston