Nancy L. Deutsch, Pride in the Projects: Teens Building Identities in Urban Contexts

Excerpt

Nancy Deutsch’s Pride in the Projects: Teens Building Identities in Urban Contexts provides a vivid account of marginalized youth struggling to come to terms with their place in the world. Deutsch refreshingly details how a healthy conception of self develops, not in isolation, but in a vastly complex web of interpersonal and structural relationships. In bringing relationships to the center of adolescent identity studies, Deutsch offers powerful insights into the burden adolescent’s frequently endure for their own development. Whereas the link between negative identity development and negative developmental outcomes appears to overwhelm much of the academic research, Deutsch opens a window to what can be done to better assist and empower marginalized youth in their struggle toward positive identity development. …