Exit Zero: Family and Class in Postindustrial Chicago

by Christine J. Walley

Winner of CLR James Book Prize from the Working Class Studies Association and 2nd Place for the Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing. 

In 1980, Christine J. Walley’s world was turned upside down when the steel mill in Southeast Chicago where her father worked abruptly closed. In the ensuing years, ninety thousand other area residents would also lose their jobs in the mills—just one example of the vast scale of deindustrialization occurring across the United States. The disruption of this event propelled Walley into a career as a cultural anthropologist, and now, in Exit Zero , she brings her anthropological perspective home, examining the fate of her family and that of blue-collar America at large.

 

Interweaving personal narratives and family photos with a nuanced assessment of the social impacts of deindustrialization, Exit Zero is one part memoir and one part ethnography— providing a much-needed female and familial perspective on cultures of labor and their decline. Through vivid accounts of her family’s struggles and her own upward mobility, Walley reveals the social landscapes of America’s industrial fallout, navigating complex tensions among class, labor, economy, and environment. Unsatisfied with the notion that her family’s turmoil was inevitable in the ever-forward progress of the United States, she provides a fresh and important counternarrative that gives a new voice to the many Americans whose distress resulting from deindustrialization has too often been ignored.

This book is part of a project that also includes a documentary film.

Genres: Nonfiction, Anthropology, Ethnography, Sociology, Memoir, History, Academic

216 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2012

Reviews

[Siyu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ethnography or memoir?
Class or race?
Class immobility or daddy issue?

[Elizabeth Lowry · Rating 4 out of 5]

“One of the injustices of class is how hard it is for those with limited resources and scarred by difficult lives to be the kinds of parents others (and they themselves and their kids) desire them to be.”

Hm.
Charlotte Wells, we loved Aftersun!

[Noelle Stout · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ethnography at its finest. Walley interweaves her own personal family history with a story of the economic decimation of Chicago's working class that offers an unsurpassed account of the structural and individual toll of neoliberal restructuring. Well written, accessible, and analytically sophisticated--a classic in anthropology and American Studies.

[Leeann Revis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having lived this at approximately the same time as Ms. Walley, it was moving to revisit this time. This book was required reading for a Working Class studies class and I am glad that I read it. It helps to make sense of what happened to my neighborhoods.

[Gabor Scheiring · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great auto-ethnographic account of deindustrialization. I was amazed by how similarly the process unfolds and feels like in the US and on the (de)industrial(ized) outskirts of postsocialist Budapest. A great and brave book, highly recommended.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really more a 3 and 1/2, but I feel this book simply presents us with the problem, but no way for us to take initiative for Project Exit Zero.

[Benjamin Siegel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superlative auto-ethnography. About Chicago, but gave me lots to chew on as I pondered deindustrialization and class in my own hometown (Detroit).

[Fatema Al Darii · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were so many heart-breaking and surreal moments in this book. What Walley does well is present a digestible narrative of deindustrialization through the lens of class. Her personal and family accounts are heartfelt; they bring the dry and washed topic of industrial collapse to life by sharing its impact on their lives. Her sentimental and personal writing is supported by various statistics and scholarly work which invites the reader to not only empathize with emotions but also understand through reason. She delivers a story where she encourages the reader to engage with it as a live reality. Overall, this was an informative read and I strongly recommend it. It sheds a fresh and realistic perspective on a period of time where heavy industry played a dominant role in the American economy while keeping the story human.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this ethnography for a class about ethnography and place. It was incredibly interesting and we had lot of good discussion about the text. However I had to also write a 7 page papers about a minute detail in the text, which wasn't as pleasing. It's a good read, I would just recommend reading it on your own time.

[Alejandra (Allie) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible read. Review coming soon. It made me cry multiple times. I had to call my parents after finishing it, because it deals with the cognitive dissonance of upward mobility for yourself when your parents are back home struggling. It was surprising how much I can have in common with a white woman from a low-income background and changed the way I understand class more generally.

[kerstin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading Walley's take on the mindset of the marginalized, disadvantaged group in a society dominated by mainstream narratives. Also interesting are the individual experiences, when class, race, gender, and other factors are intertwined, in the age of globalization.

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great and concise read on Gary, Indiana.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I would have really liked this book right when it came out but I think a lot of the field has gotten bolder/wilder in its writing.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

My new obsession - postindustrialism

[DM · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chapter 3 on the author’s own experiences was a highlight and the memoir parts were beautiful about the pain of deindustrialization.

[Scooter! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering the book being an academic text, Christine J. Walley makes Exit Zero both information rich and fascinating to read. This is a very personal book, which makes Exit Zero very special because it is a story only Walley could tell.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting book about the deindustrialization of Southeast Chicago and the resulting impact it had on the working-class. Walley has a beautiful voice and I found myself really moved by some of the passages.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

As academic writing, this book pulls a whole lot of different threads together into a solid narrative. But the personal memoir half of the story is what makes such a good book.