Analysis Of The Levittowners By Herbert J. Gans

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The Levittowners, by Herbert J. Gans, is an ethnography, which focuses on the “Ways of Life and Politics in a New Suburban Community”. Gans conducted his research in Levittown, New Jersey, the third Levittown built by Levitt and Sons. Gans used participant observation to understand the formation of this new suburbia, the suburban lifestyle and residents' conduct as a result of the new community, and how politics emerged and developed as a result of the new community.
The ethnographer’s intention is to study this town’s community mainly by employing the sociological method of participant observation. Gans made all the necessary arrangements to live in Levittown, following the same procedures and requirements as the other new residents, such
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Having a diverse population mix could possibly initiate the rise of a totally different community. Nevertheless, Gans offers insight on the adult population of Levittown; they found conformity in the town because as adults they were able to move to areas were the found more compatibility with neighbors. But, was this case for their adolescents and children? Information from essays collected by Gans written by 6-12 graders, he found out the following: children were satisfied with Levittown but somehow this changes dramatically as the age increases. By adolescence, teenagers call Levittown by “Endsville”. The author explains that adolescents considered Levittown a dull place, where they found themselves to be there involuntarily. Adolescents found Levittown to be boring and often expressed their frustration through vandalism. Gans (1982) says, “Although most adolescents have no trouble in their student role, many are bored after school and some are angry…” (p, 206) Adolescents complain about the lack of recreational facilities in Levittown and if they were, transportation was expensive and it’ll take them time to get to them. Grammatically unclear. Gans (1982) points out the opinion of a 12th grader saying, “Either you have to pay a lot of money to go to the movies or the bowling alley or you go to too many parties and that gets boring” (p, 207), and girls would complain that boys have the opportunity to enroll in athletic programs that would be recreational. It was such boredom and parent control that the young residents of Levittown would visit adjacent towns to have encounters that their parents or any other known adult from Levittown wouldn’t be able to judge and control. Cars then became essential for teenagers as for adults, to look for better and

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