“Stagnant Dreamers” honored by ASA Latina/Latino Sociology Section
María G. Rendón’s book, “Stagnant Dreamers: How the Inner City Shapes the Integration of Second Generation Latinos” has won the American Sociological Association’s Latina/Latino Sociology Section Distinguished Contribution to Research Book Award.
The honor comes on the heels of another award for the assistant professor of urban planning and public policy. Rendón recently received the 2020 Robert E. Park Award for Best Book from the Community and Urban Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association. In addition, her book was given an honorable mention from the association’s International Migration Section Thomas and Znaniecki Best Book Award.
Rendón’s book follows 42 young Latinos from two high-poverty Los Angeles neighborhoods as they transition into adulthood. It opens with the immigrant parents of the 42 men. The author captures their story of migration and settlement in Los Angeles during turbulent times — the peak years of urban violence. It describes the challenges her subjects face coming of age in the inner city and accessing higher education and good jobs. It demonstrates how family-based social ties and community institutions can serve as buffers against neighborhood violence, chronic poverty, incarceration and other negative outcomes.
Learn more from this Q&A feature with the author.
Read a review of “Stagnant Dreamers” in The American Interest.