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Nice Is Not Enough: Inequality and the Limits of Kindness at American High
This provocative story of contemporary high school argues that a shallow culture of kindness can do more lasting harm than good.
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Based on two years of research, Nice Is Not Enough shares striking dispatches from one high school's "regime of kindness" to underline how the culture operates as a Band-Aid on persistent inequalities. Through incisive storytelling and thoughtful engagement with students, this brilliant study by C.J. Pascoe exposes uncomfortable truths about American politics and our reliance on individual solutions instead of profound systemic change.
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Nice Is Not Enough brings readers into American High, a middle- and working-class high school characterized by acceptance, connection, and kindness—a place where, a prominent sign states, "there is no room for hate." Here, inequality is narrowly understood as a problem of individual merit, meanness, effort, or emotion rather than a structural issue requiring deeper intervention. Surface-level sensitivity allows American High to avoid "political" topics related to social inequality based on race, sex, gender, or class. Being nice to each other, Pascoe reveals, does not serve these students or solve the broader issues we face; however, a true politics of care just might.
Ìý
Based on two years of research, Nice Is Not Enough shares striking dispatches from one high school's "regime of kindness" to underline how the culture operates as a Band-Aid on persistent inequalities. Through incisive storytelling and thoughtful engagement with students, this brilliant study by C.J. Pascoe exposes uncomfortable truths about American politics and our reliance on individual solutions instead of profound systemic change.
Ìý
Nice Is Not Enough brings readers into American High, a middle- and working-class high school characterized by acceptance, connection, and kindness—a place where, a prominent sign states, "there is no room for hate." Here, inequality is narrowly understood as a problem of individual merit, meanness, effort, or emotion rather than a structural issue requiring deeper intervention. Surface-level sensitivity allows American High to avoid "political" topics related to social inequality based on race, sex, gender, or class. Being nice to each other, Pascoe reveals, does not serve these students or solve the broader issues we face; however, a true politics of care just might.
- GenresSociologyNonfiction
264 pages, Hardcover
Published August 15, 2023
8 people are currently reading
171 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 28, 2023
“As cultural commentator bell hooks writes, to combat social inequality we need to see "love as an action rather than a feeling" in a way that involves "accountability and responsibil-ity." By embracing and not avoiding "the political," a group of dedicated adults at American demonstrates love as an action by creating spaces and opportunities to empower young folks to call attention to the systemic nature of racial inequality, spaces and opportunities that can serve a template for an emerging politics of care.�
ugh this book was so good. I want to be a sociologist now
ugh this book was so good. I want to be a sociologist now
July 21, 2023
Excellent and timely ethnography of a progressive high school in Oregon that is recognizable in its culture and traditions. Very accessible and readable scholarship about the tensions of teaching and learning in todays fractured political climate. Can’t wait to read it with my teacher candidates this fall!
October 9, 2023
Wow, I think this is the first time I’ve read an ethnography where all the academic terms are easily understood in context. It helps me see and reflect more on the distinction between individual care vs systemic care, as well as individual vs systemic harm. I also appreciate how Pascoe offers positive examples from American High - and other schools when the examples are lacking. Glad that we were forced to read this for one of the classes.
January 18, 2024
Ever have that niggling feeling you get when you think your school is doing all the right things, but things still go wrong? It could be racial disparity or sexual harassment or trans phobia. Pascoe exposes what's going beneath the surface. An ah ha moment for educators.
Full disclosure - I was at the school she studied. I was there in the story. Reading it, I actually blurted out "No way!" She showed me sides of my school I knew existed.
Full disclosure - I was at the school she studied. I was there in the story. Reading it, I actually blurted out "No way!" She showed me sides of my school I knew existed.
July 19, 2024
Pascoe criticizes the limits of neoliberal multiculturalism through an ethnography of a "progressive" school in Oregon. She is optimistic that reform can shift a regime of kindness into a politics of care, placing public school education into a larger conversation on the logics that neoliberal society operates in.
September 8, 2023
Wonderful book. Really encapsulates the American experience and breaks down what is so obviously in front of us all but for which we did not have words to express. Absolute slay.
June 9, 2024
Audiobook
December 11, 2024
read for sociology class but actually enjoyed it
Shelved as 'dnf'
January 12, 2025read a few chapters for a soc class. fairly interesting but in no hurry to read the whole book
June 13, 2024
Such a unique look into the various pervasive issues in adolescence that turn nice tiny humans into sh!t heads, and why "killing with kindness" can only get us so far - especially when it's so surface level.
At times this felt really repetitive - to the point I'd double check I hadn't rewound accidentally and was relistening to a chapter I'd already heard. Despite that, I'd still recommend this to anyone with an interest in the microcosm that is high school culture.
At times this felt really repetitive - to the point I'd double check I hadn't rewound accidentally and was relistening to a chapter I'd already heard. Despite that, I'd still recommend this to anyone with an interest in the microcosm that is high school culture.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
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