Another Level: Friendships Transcending Geography and Race

Abstract

For more than 20 years men of Another Level have transcended socially constructed boundaries of age (college-age to retired), class (working class to professional), geography (urban and suburban), and race (Black and White) to build mutually supportive friendships through a simple and consistent act of hospitality. Human identities (especially racial identities) are constructed by growing up within a society that creates the perception of impermeable social boundaries between groups of people making open trusting inter-group relationships difficult, temporary and rare, especially among men (Omi & Winant, 1994). This research builds on Allport's (1954) four characteristics of “optimal inter-group contact” of equal status among members, common goals, cooperation and authority based on custom by highlighting the importance of “hanging-out” together. These men seem to be doing something social institutions have failed in providing—a place for building healthy social relationships that transcend racism and nurture a healthy male self-consciousness.