BRINKE, M.R. TEN (MYRNA)
UTRECHT UNIVERSITY
IN SEARCH OF RESPECT
In Search Of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio
Bourgois, Philippe I. 2003. Second edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................3
The Underground Economy...............................................................................................3
Street Culture: Resistance and Self-Destruction................................................................3
Ethnographic Methods and Negative Stereotyping............................................................4
Critiquing the Culture of Poverty.......................................................................................4
Chapter 1 Violating Apartheid in the United States.........................................................4
Learning Street Smarts.......................................................................................................4
The Parameters of Violence, Power, and Generosity.........................................................5
The Barriers of Cultural Capital.........................................................................................5
Confronting Race, Class, and the Police............................................................................5
Racism and the Culture of Terror.......................................................................................5
Internalizing Institutional Violence....................................................................................6
Accessing the Game Room Crackhouse............................................................................6
African-American/Puerto Rican Relations on the Street...................................................6
Chapter 2 A Street History of El Barrio............................................................................6
From Puerto Rican Jíbaro to Hispanic Crack Dealer.........................................................6
Confronting Individual Responsibility on the Street..........................................................6
East Harlem’s Immigrant Maelstroms...............................................................................7
The Italian Invasion of East Harlem...................................................................................7
The Puerto Rican “Invasion” of El Barrio..........................................................................7
Poverty and Ecological Disrepair.......................................................................................7
The Reconcentration of Poverty in Easternmost East Harlem...........................................7
From Speakeasy to Crackhouse.........................................................................................8
The Omnipresence of Heroin and Cocaine........................................................................8
Mafia Legacies in the Underground Economy...................................................................8
The Free Market for Crack and Cocaine............................................................................8
Chapter 3 Crackhouse Management..................................................................................8
Living with crack................................................................................................................8
Restructuring Management at the Game Room.................................................................9
1
, BRINKE, M.R. TEN (MYRNA)
UTRECHT UNIVERSITY
IN SEARCH OF RESPECT
Curbing Addiction and Channelling Violence...................................................................9
Minimum Wage Crack Dealers..........................................................................................9
Management-Labour Conflict at the Game Room...........................................................10
The Crackhouse Clique: Dealing with Security...............................................................10
Chapter 4 “Goin’ Legit”: Disrespect and Resistance at Work......................................11
Resistance, Laziness, and Self-Destruction......................................................................11
First Fired – Last Hired....................................................................................................11
Internalizing unemployment.............................................................................................11
Crossover Dreams............................................................................................................12
Pursuing the Immigrant’s Dream.....................................................................................12
Shattered Working-class Fantasies in the Service Sector................................................12
Getting “Dissed” in the Office.........................................................................................13
The Gender Diss...............................................................................................................13
Work Site Wars................................................................................................................14
Weapons of the Weak.......................................................................................................14
“Fly Clothes” and Symbolic Power..................................................................................14
Unionized Travesties: Racism and Racketeering.............................................................14
The New-Immigrant Alternative......................................................................................15
The Bicultural Alternative: Upward Mobility or Betrayal...............................................15
Chapter 5 School Days: Learning To Be a Better Criminal...........................................15
Kindergarten Delinquencies: Confronting Cultural Capital.............................................15
Violence: Family and Institutional...................................................................................16
Learning Street Skills in Middle School..........................................................................16
The Peer Group................................................................................................................16
Adolescent Mischief and Inner-City Rage.......................................................................17
Adolescent Gang Rape.....................................................................................................17
Chapter 6 Redrawing the Gender Line on the Street.....................................................18
Witnessing Patriarchy in Crisis........................................................................................18
Domestic Violence in Post-Industrial Turmoil................................................................18
Female Liberation Versus Traditional Sexual Jealousy...................................................19
Recovery: Sex, Drugs, and More Romantic Love............................................................19
Inverting Patriarchy..........................................................................................................19
Contradictory Contexts for Women’s Struggles..............................................................20
Confronting the State: Forging Single Motherhood on Welfare......................................20
2
, BRINKE, M.R. TEN (MYRNA)
UTRECHT UNIVERSITY
IN SEARCH OF RESPECT
The Internalization of Institutional Constraints................................................................20
Mothers in Jail..................................................................................................................21
Chapter 7: Families and Children in Pain.......................................................................21
Street Culture’s Children..................................................................................................22
Punishing Girls in the Streets...........................................................................................22
In Search of Meaning: Having Babies in El Barrio..........................................................23
The Demonization of Mothers and Crack........................................................................23
Chapter 8 Vulnerable Fathers..........................................................................................24
Celebrating Paternal Powerlessness.................................................................................25
Masculinity in Historical Crisis........................................................................................25
The Material Basis for the Polarization of Intimate Violence..........................................26
Yearning for Fatherhood..................................................................................................26
Accommodating Patriarchy..............................................................................................26
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................27
Confronting Racial and Class Inequality – Instead of Drugs...........................................27
Hip Hop Jíbaro: Toward a Politics of Mutual Respect....................................................28
Epilogue [2003]...................................................................................................................28
Introduction
The Underground Economy
- This book is caused by a curiosity to the daily struggles for subsistence and dignity of
drug dealers and their families at the poverty line in East Harlem, also called El Barrio
o Many of these dealers and their families are African-American or Puerto
Rican
- Despite being barely above or below the poverty line, residents are able to live in
reasonably healthy ways through their alternative income-generating strategies
o Some strategies being baby-sitting, housekeeping, sex work, construction jobs
or selling drugs
Street Culture: Resistance and Self-Destruction
- El Barrio youths often face cultural assault outside of their own neighbourhood,
which creates an inner-city culture
o Inner-city culture: a complex and conflictual web of beliefs, symbols, modes
of interaction, values, and ideologies that have emerged in opposition to
exclusion from mainstream society
o A street culture of resistance
- The substance use and abuse forms the base of street culture
- While it embodies a search for dignity and a rejection of racism and subjugation,
street culture contradictorily is also an active agent in personal degradation and
community ruin
3
UTRECHT UNIVERSITY
IN SEARCH OF RESPECT
In Search Of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio
Bourgois, Philippe I. 2003. Second edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................3
The Underground Economy...............................................................................................3
Street Culture: Resistance and Self-Destruction................................................................3
Ethnographic Methods and Negative Stereotyping............................................................4
Critiquing the Culture of Poverty.......................................................................................4
Chapter 1 Violating Apartheid in the United States.........................................................4
Learning Street Smarts.......................................................................................................4
The Parameters of Violence, Power, and Generosity.........................................................5
The Barriers of Cultural Capital.........................................................................................5
Confronting Race, Class, and the Police............................................................................5
Racism and the Culture of Terror.......................................................................................5
Internalizing Institutional Violence....................................................................................6
Accessing the Game Room Crackhouse............................................................................6
African-American/Puerto Rican Relations on the Street...................................................6
Chapter 2 A Street History of El Barrio............................................................................6
From Puerto Rican Jíbaro to Hispanic Crack Dealer.........................................................6
Confronting Individual Responsibility on the Street..........................................................6
East Harlem’s Immigrant Maelstroms...............................................................................7
The Italian Invasion of East Harlem...................................................................................7
The Puerto Rican “Invasion” of El Barrio..........................................................................7
Poverty and Ecological Disrepair.......................................................................................7
The Reconcentration of Poverty in Easternmost East Harlem...........................................7
From Speakeasy to Crackhouse.........................................................................................8
The Omnipresence of Heroin and Cocaine........................................................................8
Mafia Legacies in the Underground Economy...................................................................8
The Free Market for Crack and Cocaine............................................................................8
Chapter 3 Crackhouse Management..................................................................................8
Living with crack................................................................................................................8
Restructuring Management at the Game Room.................................................................9
1
, BRINKE, M.R. TEN (MYRNA)
UTRECHT UNIVERSITY
IN SEARCH OF RESPECT
Curbing Addiction and Channelling Violence...................................................................9
Minimum Wage Crack Dealers..........................................................................................9
Management-Labour Conflict at the Game Room...........................................................10
The Crackhouse Clique: Dealing with Security...............................................................10
Chapter 4 “Goin’ Legit”: Disrespect and Resistance at Work......................................11
Resistance, Laziness, and Self-Destruction......................................................................11
First Fired – Last Hired....................................................................................................11
Internalizing unemployment.............................................................................................11
Crossover Dreams............................................................................................................12
Pursuing the Immigrant’s Dream.....................................................................................12
Shattered Working-class Fantasies in the Service Sector................................................12
Getting “Dissed” in the Office.........................................................................................13
The Gender Diss...............................................................................................................13
Work Site Wars................................................................................................................14
Weapons of the Weak.......................................................................................................14
“Fly Clothes” and Symbolic Power..................................................................................14
Unionized Travesties: Racism and Racketeering.............................................................14
The New-Immigrant Alternative......................................................................................15
The Bicultural Alternative: Upward Mobility or Betrayal...............................................15
Chapter 5 School Days: Learning To Be a Better Criminal...........................................15
Kindergarten Delinquencies: Confronting Cultural Capital.............................................15
Violence: Family and Institutional...................................................................................16
Learning Street Skills in Middle School..........................................................................16
The Peer Group................................................................................................................16
Adolescent Mischief and Inner-City Rage.......................................................................17
Adolescent Gang Rape.....................................................................................................17
Chapter 6 Redrawing the Gender Line on the Street.....................................................18
Witnessing Patriarchy in Crisis........................................................................................18
Domestic Violence in Post-Industrial Turmoil................................................................18
Female Liberation Versus Traditional Sexual Jealousy...................................................19
Recovery: Sex, Drugs, and More Romantic Love............................................................19
Inverting Patriarchy..........................................................................................................19
Contradictory Contexts for Women’s Struggles..............................................................20
Confronting the State: Forging Single Motherhood on Welfare......................................20
2
, BRINKE, M.R. TEN (MYRNA)
UTRECHT UNIVERSITY
IN SEARCH OF RESPECT
The Internalization of Institutional Constraints................................................................20
Mothers in Jail..................................................................................................................21
Chapter 7: Families and Children in Pain.......................................................................21
Street Culture’s Children..................................................................................................22
Punishing Girls in the Streets...........................................................................................22
In Search of Meaning: Having Babies in El Barrio..........................................................23
The Demonization of Mothers and Crack........................................................................23
Chapter 8 Vulnerable Fathers..........................................................................................24
Celebrating Paternal Powerlessness.................................................................................25
Masculinity in Historical Crisis........................................................................................25
The Material Basis for the Polarization of Intimate Violence..........................................26
Yearning for Fatherhood..................................................................................................26
Accommodating Patriarchy..............................................................................................26
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................27
Confronting Racial and Class Inequality – Instead of Drugs...........................................27
Hip Hop Jíbaro: Toward a Politics of Mutual Respect....................................................28
Epilogue [2003]...................................................................................................................28
Introduction
The Underground Economy
- This book is caused by a curiosity to the daily struggles for subsistence and dignity of
drug dealers and their families at the poverty line in East Harlem, also called El Barrio
o Many of these dealers and their families are African-American or Puerto
Rican
- Despite being barely above or below the poverty line, residents are able to live in
reasonably healthy ways through their alternative income-generating strategies
o Some strategies being baby-sitting, housekeeping, sex work, construction jobs
or selling drugs
Street Culture: Resistance and Self-Destruction
- El Barrio youths often face cultural assault outside of their own neighbourhood,
which creates an inner-city culture
o Inner-city culture: a complex and conflictual web of beliefs, symbols, modes
of interaction, values, and ideologies that have emerged in opposition to
exclusion from mainstream society
o A street culture of resistance
- The substance use and abuse forms the base of street culture
- While it embodies a search for dignity and a rejection of racism and subjugation,
street culture contradictorily is also an active agent in personal degradation and
community ruin
3
