联合太平洋铁路穿过迪克森市中心, 加州, a small town among the agricultural plains between San Francisco and Sacramento. Like in many rural towns its size, some neighborhoods are better off than others. But surprisingly in 迪克森, from a certain point of view, there is no wrong side of those tracks.
迪克森的青少年通常比他们的父母做得好. 这种向上流动, 正如它的名字一样, doesn’t grab the attention of sociologists and economists as often as the more depressing statistics associated with small towns plagued by poorer outcomes.
“社会 scientists tend to study intensely unequal communities,” said 特雷福Auldridge-Reveles, a Ph.D. 正规欧洲杯买球网站圣巴巴拉分校社会学系的研究生. “我的目标正好相反:人们在哪里取得进步?”
经过几个月的规划和许可, Auldridge-Reveles moved to 迪克森 in August 2022 and for the next 13 months researched this question by earning trust and forging relationships with seniors at 迪克森 High School, 花费超过1,100小时记录他们的生活. 他的学习小组是由不同性别组成的, 种族, family structure and 家庭收入 — consists of 15 kids with whom he’s in close contact, 另外还有121人同意接受学校的面试, 工作, 家庭生活, 梦想，愿望和其他细节. 虽然这一年在该领域产生了重要的发现, Auldridge-Reveles’s longterm goal for the study is to keep in touch with these young adults for a decade.
“These teenagers have some of the highest likelihoods in the whole country of climbing out of the social class into which they were raised,奥尔德里奇-雷维尔斯说, whose dissertation research is funded by the National Science Foundation, 约瑟芬·德·卡门奖学金信托基金, 拉塞尔·塞奇基金会和正规欧洲杯买球网站圣迭戈分校墨西哥裔美国人研究所. “如果我们能理解社会向上流动是如何以及为什么发生的, 我们也许可以在全国范围内复制这些条件.”
His project is also supported by the Sigma Xi Scientific 研究 Honor Society, the 加州 State University Chancellor's Doctoral Incentive Program, Phi Eta Sigma荣誉协会和Phi Kappa Phi荣誉协会.
发现迪克森
几年前, as he sought to understand where things are going well for young people in diverse small towns across the country, 奥尔德里奇-雷维尔斯转向机会地图集, a collection of social mobility data compiled by researchers at the Census Bureau, 哈佛大学和布朗大学.
He looked for populations where historic rates of upward mobility ranked in the top third across the country. The place also had to have high scores in the five factors — number of 大学 graduates, 家庭收入, 多个父家庭, census-response rates and poverty — that strongly predict that the current generation of kids will fare better than their parents. 迪克森, 事实证明, 这个国家唯一的农村是哪里, multiracial and has high historical and predicted rates of upward mobility.
“我准备去任何地方，”奥尔德里奇-雷维尔斯说. 相反，他降落在距离家乡特拉基大约两小时路程的地方.
作为他深入研究的一部分, Auldridge-Reveles has recruited dozens of UCSB undergraduate students — mostly from the humanities and social sciences — to read and analyze the 迪克森论坛报这可以追溯到1874年《正规欧洲杯买球网站》创刊之初.
“从本质上来说,奥尔德里奇-雷维尔斯说, “他们正在记录版本的基本信息, 将pdf复制到我们的数据集中, 写总结”，记下突出的主题或事件, 比如有争议的观点和编辑立场, 技术发现和创新, 文化趋势和态度以及对迪克森以外地区事件的报道, 在其他细节中.
2024年冬季季, 奥尔德里奇-雷维尔斯的学生小组读了6,791页, 大约占报纸全部书面记录的15%. 他每季度为这个项目招收新的学生.
That massive undertaking has been hugely facilitated by 迪克森 Carnegie Library staff and volunteers, 这些年来是谁把报纸数字化的, 他指出. “不幸的是, 迪克森论坛报 今年1月刚刚关闭，距离它的150周年纪念还有大约10个月.
“这个项目的一部分是观察历史的发展，”他补充说. “The other part is looking back at history to see how a place like this came to be.”
反思到目前为止的研究, Auldridge-Reveles has seen some patterns emerge as to why 迪克森 kids very often get ahead.
“What has stood out to me most of all have been the mentors or members of the students’ extended families that provide sources of support,他说. 这个网络可以包括, 例如, a coach giving extra attention to a determined athlete or surrogate family looking after a kid whose parents are down on their luck.
“They have really dense family and mentor net工作s; it’s just in the water they drink,” he added. “But does that relationship with that person in high school remain intact five years down the road? 我们正在观察随着时间的推移，它会如何发展.”
Auldridge-Reveles has also noticed that the 迪克森 kids keep fairly busy with school, 体育和课外活动, plus many of them 工作 in the service industry or pick up seasonal 工作 on the surrounding rice, 番茄和树木农场. “这是一个大多数孩子都能找到工作的地方.”也, 他注意到, 许多家长积极参与社区活动, 出现在市政厅和学区会议上.
“看着他们长大真的很美好，”他补充说. “我们听说了他们的家, 工作, 大学, 浪漫的利益, what the world is like after high school — these deeply emotional stories from these small-town kids who are used to people telling them that their stories aren't important. When people allow you to see into their lives, it’s bearing witness to beauty.”
摄影师的眼睛
这个项目的一个方面在学术界被称为视觉社会学, 奥尔德里奇-雷维尔斯已经超过5次了,000张彩色和黑白数码照片. 展出了23张这样的照片。”《欧洲杯买球》位于UCSB图书馆一楼的山坡上. 这个系列唤起了小镇的匿名性，包括深思熟虑, 迪克森少年们充满希望，有时又令人心酸的话.
“Photography forces me to be present and to look at the place more closely,他在谈到这项研究的视觉艺术部分时说. 展览将持续到6月28日. He is also planning to show his photographs at UC Davis, about 10 miles from 迪克森.
4月, Auldridge-Reveles returned to 迪克森 for a three-month stay to catch up with the students and to forge connections with more community leaders and town historians, 等. In 2025, pending post-doctoral funding, he’s planning to be there full-time for a year.
“When you’re trying to understand social mobility,他说, “that doesn’t happen in one year. 我的目标是在接下来的十年里与这些学生保持联系.”
