Reddit mentions of In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio (Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences)

I've seen a handful of people say that this sort of academic content is only produced (or acceptable to produce) about white men. I'd like to note that cultural, anthropological and historical studies of specific demographics, especially groups of alienated men, are actually pretty common. Take this classic study about Kashmiri Jihadists, or this one about drug dealers in East Harlem or hell, this study of the changing mores and social expectations in samurai culture. In other words, studying the identity of a group of men who are finding their social status threatened, uncertain or rapidly changing is actually quite a common academic pursuit.

In academic contexts like this there are clear epistemological and ethical considerations to keep in mind. The first is that any study of a group of people, whoever they are, needs to engage with the voices, experiences and worldviews of those people in good faith. This doesn't mean agree with, or even have an overall positive view of them or their beliefs - see the studies about Kashmiri Jihadists or drug dealers above - but it does mean that the purpose should be to reach a kind of understanding of the way these people think and feel about their world. A course that talks about the experiences of white men, with an aim at looking at processes of anger or radicalisation, would almost certainly be approaching the issue from this angle. I don't see anything to indicate that this won't be the case.

From the responses I've seen, a lot of people imagine this course to basically be a semester long dunk-session on white dudes without any nuance. From where I stand it seems pretty clear this course is intended to deconstruct, understand and talk about the experiences and alienation of certain white men in the US and UK in the last 70 years.

I think, in 2019, most Westerners with eyeballs have realised that young white men are a demographic that is noticeably prone to radicalisation, extremism and alienation. I think it's inevitable that this will be a phenomenon that is increasingly discussed and researched in academic and public circles.

I know what you mean, but it's not only a possible excuse, it's also one of the factual causes. When your whole world tells you that education and a job aren't an option, that crime is your destiny, it's extremely hard to choose a different path.

This book opened my eyes on the issue. The author isn't blind to the moral side of things but set out to describe a bad neighborhood in detail. It's a great but depressing read.

For my Intro to Cultural Anthropology class last semester we read an ethnography called "In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in the Barrio" by Philippe Bourgois. It was an interesting read, very captivating and real. I really liked it.

In Search of Respect is a good way to understand how this happens. An anthropologist goes to East Harlem to study crack dealers in the 90's.

http://www.amazon.com/Search-Respect-Structural-Analysis-Sciences/dp/0521017114/ref=la_B001IGHNIW_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368699663&sr=1-1 this is a VERY intresting book about an anthropologist who studied crack dealers, its pretty cool.

Just read ethnographies on a subject or group that interests you.

One of my favorites in college was [In Search of Respect(]http://www.amazon.com/Search-Respect-Structural-Analysis-Sciences/dp/0521017114). Philippe Bourgeois was studying crack dealers in El Barrio (a mostly Hispanic are of New York City also called Spanish Harlem). It's a very good ethnography because it is objective, showing how social capital and other phenomena play a role in keeping the crack dealers from "going legit," yet it does not make apologies for the sometimes obscene things they do to other human beings.

Thunder Rides a Black Horse is about a traditional Mescalero coming of age ceremony for women.

Life and Death on Mt Everest is an intimate look at the experienced Sherpas who aid mountain climbers as they tackle the world's tallest mountain.

There are ethnographies all over the place on just about every culture you could ask for. Just do a google search on something that interests you and use the keyword "ethnography" in your search. You're bound to come up with something.

I read an ethnography called "In Search of Respect" that details the lives of the impoverished in the Barrio in New York during the 1980s. It covers in depth the societal and cultural conditions that create drug and gang violence. Yes, there are many people who just draw on welfare, but many of those people work in the untaxed workforce. They might be the neighborhood plumber, electrician, automotive repairman, or refrdgerator specialist. They don't have formal jobs or titles or pay taxes so they are unaccounted for. These people also sell drugs and steal car stereos. Its all part of their 'underground' economy. In fact, many drug dealers start selling either because they became unemployed, or they were trying to lift themselves out of poverty.

Hmm ok I'm glad you clarified. I can see where you are coming from, but I just see it differently in that, American culture tends to put too much emphasis on the individual without considering the strutural. Since I studied social science (if you couldn't tell!) I changed a lot of my views, about the value of work (in regards of "skilled" and "unskilled labor), about oppertunity in America and about how larger structual issues creates a direct impact on people's lives and how we aren't willing to even look at those options to change (God forbid if we do anything against the mighty capitalism!).

A book that really stuck with me, because of the quality of writing, research and the insights it has, was In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio. Also people will give you funny looks for reading it!

http://www.amazon.com/In-Search-Respect-Structural-Analysis/dp/0521017114

I'm not a felon because I was never arrested nor charged for a felony. Consequently, I was not found guilty of a felony.

On the other hand, the people who are, indeed, arrested for felonies tend to be poorer and blacker than everyone else. And the people who actually get convicted for a felony? If you had to pick poor and black, you'd be right more than wrong.

Possible explanations for this would be that there are more blacks than whites in the US, but this is obviously false.

The next possible answer is that white people use less dope than black people, or that white people don't sell dope, or that white people commit fewer crimes. But I've seen white people smoke plenty of weed, snort lots of coke, sling plenty of stuff. I'd reckon your favorite explanation is that black people just commit more crimes, but I don't buy it.


I say that black people get busted more often because of unequal attention from law enforcement. Once they get arrested, and then are less likely to be able to defend themselves adequately because $$. Generations of public policy in the US, from slavery, through Reconstruction, to Jim Crow, to redlining, to the GI Bill have all made it so that black people are less likely to have the money to buy the same justice that others can.

There is certainly an element of personal choice to everything. And certainly I have had white acquaintances who got busted for heavy things (larceny, burglary, heroin x 5) and went away for awhile. That said, there's a pattern here that is greater than individual choice.

I am not a convicted felon because I live in the right neighborhood, had the right sort of parents, and never got busted for any crime. I don't think that my story would be the same if I were African American or poor.

If we accept that more black people are convicted because more black people do crime-- which I wouldn't-- then one still has to ask why is that so? Is it because black people were born somehow inherently incapable of making good decisions? That doesn't seem likely.

As for your second question, the only dealers I've been acquainted with were supporting a habit or making some side money. I have read an ethnography or so that shows the ultimate hourly wage of a crack dealer at the height of the crack boom to be less than minimum wage, tho.

About culture? Anthropology may be the area you want to check out. It's a very complex topic, but has loads of interesting reports on marginalized cultures within America. The Navajo probably have had a few ethnographies already done for them.

One of my favorite that you may find interesting is In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio. Oddly, it really reminded me of where I grew up.

In Search of Respect is often used in modern cultural anthropology classes as a first hand look at the culture and life of drug dealers and associated characters. It's a bit dry in some points, but it's pretty detailed. The author depicts things sort of 'from the ground up', as he slowly gains the trust of the neighborhood, and access to more influential figures in the trade.

> I am male, and to cut a long story short, yes i am 'particularly masculine' by the usual metrics.

Ah right, well this is all very easy for you to say then, isn't it? Strikes me you are talking from a position of privilege in that respect.

> Can you answer the part about who your favourite articles were to teach on? I'm quite curious!

I have no idea why that would be. What possible difference could it make to you? It sounds to me like you are testing me.

Anyway, if you really want to read some sociology, here are a few suggestions...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intimacy-Personal-Relationships-Modern-Societies/dp/0745615740

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Managed-Heart-Commercialization-Human-Feeling/dp/0520272943

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonaldization

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Search-Respect-Structural-Analysis-Sciences/dp/0521017114

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discipline_and_Punish

I will try and add some more if I think of anything, but TBH I think you are just trying to test me anyway. For some reason redditors often seem to be incredulous that someone could actually do a sociology degree and a post-grad, and go on to work in teaching, though it is actually a pretty humble accomplishment AFAIAC.

Edit: one of my favourite sociology books when I was an undergrad was Scotland the Brand.

Kling blaims the poor for their poverty. I disagree with him and think his argument is not firmly developed.

Poverty is a structure whose product is the poor. Class reproduces itself. The children of the wealthy and well-educated grow up to be wealthy and well-educated because their parents bestow upon them the ability to navigate this socioeconomic system. Similarly is true for the poor and poorly-educated. (read the sociological study Unequal Childhoods if you want something more substantial than my rambling comment).

He is coding class warfare in "libertarian beliefs." Rather, we should recogonize the poor are disadvantaged not only because of their poverty, but because they don't understand our current socioeconomic system. "Hard work" alone won't help you (drug dealers work hard). Teach kids to discard constraining notions of gender, teach kids how to talk to professionals, teach kids to how to speak and dress like the hegemonic class - like rich white people. That (unfortunately) will likely get you far in this country.

Wow, you have to be really bigoted to think that was the only reason these things happen. It's not as simple as that. It's a huge cycle of poverty, violence, and drugs that all contribute to this. Please please educate yourself so you don't embarrass yourself. This book will help you. It's not about black people mainly, but it'll give you an idea what the reasons are.

Books I would add to balance this list out:

Anthropology

Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches by Marvin Harris. Unlike Germs, Guns, and Steel, this book is written by an actual anthropologist (sorry Mr. Diamond) and is a really easy read--it covers topics from the sacredness of cows to cargo cults. It's fun, too, as Harris is an entertaining and engaging writer, and it's a slim book.

Bonus Level Challenge Anthropology Read:

In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio by Phillipe Bourgois. This is another monograph written by an actual anthropologist. This book is more challenging subject matter, and I should put a big Trigger Warning on it for violence against women.

Economics

Wages, Price, and Profit by Karl Marx. It's a shame more people don't read Marx beyond the Manifesto, which he wrote fairly early on in his academic life. W,P and P is a preparatory work for Capital and outlines one of the arguments Marx makes in the much denser and more complete work that was to follow. It's short, and one of Marx's more approachable writings, dealing with something we are all familiar with: how much we get paid, and why.

Bonus Level Challenge Economics Read:

Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism by V. I. Lenin. This book contains much drier material, as Lenin draws upon common economic sources (I hope you like talking about tons of iron) to illustrate phenomenon like World War 1--which he saw as a competition of imperialist powers to redivide the Middle East and Africa--and even the Iraq Invasion that would come almost 100 years later.

board4life: ^^original ^^reddit ^^link

You should check out this book. Written by an actual researcher who lived in one of Harlem's worst drug neighborhoods. It deals with a lot of issues, but one is particularly related to your post- the family units. Given the societal pressure for a two parent home, most mothers (since primarily the fathers do the abusing) stay with them, thinking that's what is best for their children. However, the real problem is they don't kick them out. When the kid(s) grow up seeing the parents constantly arguing and fighting, they think that's how relationships are supposed to be, and perpetuate the cycle.

The whole book is really good though. Definitely demonstrates why it is so difficult for people to get out of very poor neighborhoods, where they make more money selling dope and committing crimes than the minimum wage jobs they are barely qualified for. It's not as easy as "pull yourself up by your bootstraps," like the politicians and MSM would like the population to believe.

You should check out this book. Written by an actual researcher who lived in one of Harlem's worst drug neighborhoods. It deals with a lot of issues, but one is particularly related to your post- the family units. Given the societal pressure for a two parent home, most mothers (since primarily the fathers do the abusing) stay with them, thinking that's what is best for their children. However, the real problem is they don't kick them out. When the kid(s) grow up seeing the parents constantly arguing and fighting, they think that's how relationships are supposed to be, and perpetuate the cycle.

The whole book is really good though. Definitely demonstrates why it is so difficult for people to get out of very poor neighborhoods, where they make more money selling dope and committing crimes than the minimum wage jobs they are barely qualified for. It's not as easy as "pull yourself up by your bootstraps," like the politicians and MSM would like the population to believe.

If you want to read an Ethnography i suggest In Search of Respect by Phillipe Bourgois. I read it after my first semester of Anthropology and i think its the book that made me continue on and do a major in Anthro.

It is pretty easy to get through and very interesting and relevant subject matter.

Interesting question. Off the top of my head, I would say that makes you not so much 'a feminist' as 'a person whose viewpoint has been influenced by feminism'. Personally, I don't think you can really call yourself a feminist if you don't believe in patriarchy, as in the idea that women are historically oppressed as a class, but that is a big discussion and not one I intend to get into here.

By the way, you say you 'really don't believe in a contemporary patriarchy' - what about the likes of Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan? Is patriarchy not expressed through the machismo of certain Latin American culture and households? If it was considered relatively normal for Latino men to beat their wives and have control over the household finances, (that's a big 'if', I know), would that not be considered a form of patriarchy? You might like to take a look at In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio, which could be said to portray a patriarchal society, in terms of the social norms and household arrangements of the subjects. Obviously, it depends a bit on what you mean by 'patriarchal', but I don't think it's too much of a stretch to refer to these families in that way.

In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio, by Philipe Bourgeois, is an ethnography of street-level drug dealers written by an anthropologist. It's very readable for an academic analysis.

Makes Me Wanna Holler, by Nathan McCall, is an autobiography written by a gang-member-turned-journalist. It offers an unapologetic look at his experiences.

Public Enemies, by Bryan Burroughs, doesn't focus on the personal experiences and perspectives of gang members in the same ways. But it offers an interesting account of some of the big-name gangs and gang members of the 1930s and the FBI response.

In Search of Respect if you’re into anthropology at all

We Are Our Language: An Ethnography of Language Revitalization in a Northern Athabaskan Community by Barbra Meek

If anyone has any interest in language revitalization, I think this is a great read.

Wisdom Sits in Place: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache by Keith Basso

A classic.

Trade of the Tricks: Inside the Magician's Craft by Graham Jones

Not nearly as heavy on the linguistics as the other two I mentioned (though he has a fair amount on language), but I thought it was a very entertaining and interesting read!

In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio by Philippe Bourgois

He constantly uses large chunks of quoted text from his informants, so there's really interesting code-switching and discussions of dialects and language ideologies happening, but it's not something that the author really focuses on or analyzes (his focus is on political economy). But I enjoyed it as an ethnography.

Writing Women's Worlds: Bedouin Stories by Lila Abu-Lughod

Fantastically written, really recommend this one, though it's not linguistic at all.

Ye OP damn you for not giving us sources