Sidewalk [Paperback]

Mitchell Duneier (Author), Hakim Hasan (Author), Ovie Carter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 20, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0374527253 | ISBN-13: 978-0374527259 | Edition: 1st

An exceptional ethnography marked by clarity and candor, Sidewalk takes us into the socio-cultural environment of those who, though often seen as threatening or unseemly, work day after day on “the blocks” of one of New York’s most diverse neighborhoods. Sociologist Duneier, author of Slim’s Table, offers an accessible and compelling group portrait of several poor black men who make their livelihoods on the sidewalks of Greenwich Village selling secondhand goods, panhandling, and scavenging books and magazines.

Duneier spent five years with these individuals, and in Sidewalk he argues that, contrary to the opinion of various city officials, they actually contribute significantly to the order and well-being of the Village. An important study of the heart and mind of the street, Sidewalk also features an insightful afterword by longtime book vendor Hakim Hasan. This fascinating study reveals today’s urban life in all its complexity: its vitality, its conflicts about class and race, and its surprising opportunities for empathy among strangers.

Sidewalk is an excellent supplementary text for a range of courses:

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY: Shows how to make important links between micro and macro; how a research project works; how sociology can transform common sense.

RACE AND ETHNIC RELATIONS: Untangles race, class, and gender as they work together on the street.

URBAN STUDIES: Asks how public space is used and contested by men and women, blacks and whites, rich and poor, and how street life and political economy interact.

DEVIANCE: Looks at labeling processes in treatment of the homeless;
interrogates the “broken windows” theory of policing.

LAW AND SOCIETY: Closely examines the connections between formal and informal systems of social control.

METHODS: Shows how ethnography works; includes a detailed methodological appendix and an afterword by research subject Hakim Hasan.

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY: Sidewalk engages the rich terrain of recent developments regarding representation, writing, and authority; in the tradition of Elliot Liebow and Ulf Hannerz, it deals with age old problems of the social and cultural experience of inequality; this is a telling study of culture on the margins of American society.

CULTURAL STUDIES: Breaking down disciplinary boundaries, Sidewalk shows how books and magazines are received and interpreted in discussions among working-class people on the sidewalk; it shows how cultural knowledge is deployed by vendors and scavengers to generate subsistence in public space.

SOCIOLOGY OF CULTURE: Sidewalk demonstrates the connections between culture and human agency and innovation; it interrogates distinctions between legitimate subcultures and deviant collectivities; it illustrates conflicts over cultural diversity in public space; and, ultimately, it shows how conflicts over meaning are central to social life.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"I've had the luxury--if you can call it the luxury," says Hakim Hasan, "of working in the formal economy, and of working at certain companies that required a certain level of training, however rudimentary, and a certain level of education." Instead, he chooses to sell books from a table on the sidewalk in New York's Greenwich Village. Soon after he met sociologist Mitchell Duneier, Hakim described himself as a "public character," and sent Duneier scurrying to reread Jane Jacobs's The Death and Life of Great American Cities to find out what he meant.

That moment was one of Duneier's inspirations to spend years studying--getting to know, really--Hakim and other book and magazine vendors on his patch of Sixth Avenue. Sidewalk explains much about the street vendors: How did this become legal? Where do vendors obtain their merchandise? How do they interact with potential customers? When do they find time to go to the bathroom (and, for that matter, where do they go)? But it's ultimately about the people themselves--quoted at length from Duneier's tape-recorded interviews and photographed by Ovie Carter--as they do their best to live successfully on their own terms, with all the good and bad consequences that entail. Some of these people (almost all men) are drug addicts, yes, and some of them choose to live as "unhoused" individuals. But many of them find a strong sense of purpose and identity in their work and choose to live in ways that best facilitate that work; they are as motivated--more, perhaps--as workers holding "respectable" office jobs. Nonacademic readers may glaze over at some of Duneier's longer explanations of his methodology, and he seems occasionally overapologetic when quoting the uncensored language of his subjects, but few books succeed at plunging the reader into a community and delineating the character of its members as Sidewalk does. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Investigating the complex social ecology of a three-block span of New York's Greenwich Village (a neighborhood that helped shape pioneering urban critic Jane Jacobs's thinking on the structure of cities), Duneier offers a vibrant portrait of a community in the shadows of public life. A white, middle-class sociologist whose Slim's Table won plaudits for its nuanced portrait of urban black men, Duneier infiltrated a stretch of lower Sixth Avenue frequented by scavengers, panhandlers and vendors of used and discounted books and magazines. As participant-observer, he spent months working the vendors' tables, gaining impressive access and insight. He suggests, contrary to Christopher Jencks in The Homeless, that many choose to sleep on the sidewalk even if they have money for a room. He not only observes but experiences arbitrary displays of authority by the police, who tell him to stop selling books and magazines one Christmas. Duneier adroitly explains how disparate policiesAsuch as pressure on the homeless at Penn Station and a law that exempts vendors of written matter from licensingAhave redefined life and business conditions in the city streets. He further argues that, despite the apparent disorder created by the vendors, the sidewalk creates an opportunity for income, respect and social support. In a retort to the influential "broken windows" theory behind community policing, he concludes that policy makers must do better to distinguish between inanimate signs of decline, such as graffiti, and the vendors or panhandlers who strive for better lives. The dozens of photos interspersed throughoutAby Chicago Tribune photographer Carter, a previous collaborator with the authorAadd depth to a book that achieves a remarkably intimate perspective on life on the margins of New York City. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st edition (December 20, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374527253
• ISBN-13: 978-0374527259
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #100,811 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must read"ÿ January 2, 2000

By Russell S. Adler

Format:Hardcover

his is the best and most readable work of sociology I have ever encountered, a completely unromantic look at poverty. Most impressive to me as an attorney is the way that the author, while arguing that these men are trying to live with standards of moral worth, is willing to look carefully at the evidence which would contradict his claims. Most authors only present the evidence which supports their view. Duneier spends whole chapters looking at behaviors such as urinating in public, sleeping on the sidewalk, talking to passing pedestrians, and selling stolen goods. These chapters make for fascinating reading.

It is also great that this author gives so much space to the voices of residents of Greenwich Village. It is astounding to hear the people in positions of power who work for the business improvement disticts, and what they --especially the woman who runs the Village Alliance -- have to say about the homeless. I was shocked to hear her say that where she thinks there should be a change in the law is that the first amendment should not protext street people. Wow! These are the kinds of things that never get said publicly but which secretly motivate efforts to get marginal people off the streets.

The book ends with a brilliant afterward by Hakim Hasan, one of the vendors. This alone is worth the price of of an otherwise extraordinary book.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars the real stuff November 24, 1999

By Morton Goldfein

Format:Hardcover

At a moment when crass pols like NY's Mayor Giuliani would demonize all homeless people with a broad brush, Dr. Duneier has given us a look at a group of street people that suggest the diversity, humanity, and worth of a segment of society heretofore misunderstood and neglected.

Spike is right--this is great sociology. And, for lay readers, a rare insight into a group of people we might walk by each day without any basis of understanding. Like the author's "Slim's Table", this is good reading and provocative scholarship.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Inside information about street vendors - a page turner April 8, 2000

By Sandy Hardy

Format:Hardcover

This is an excellent book -- a page turner. Mitch Duneier allows us a look at the corporate structure of the street vending business through his living and working among the street vendors as well as taped coversations and quotes from the various vendors. We are allowed to meet the vendors and peek into some of the reasons they have become vendors. I have always seen street vendors -- but was unaware of the complexities of the business. The research for this book was thorough and complete. Mitch is an excellent researcher and writer. Ovie Carter brings us superior photos allowing us to see the vendors we have met through Mitch's words.

Having read "Slim's Table," Mitch Duneier and Ovie Carter's first venture, I can say that "Sidewalk" is equal in every way.

I look forward to a third book collaborating the talents of Mitch Duneier and Ovie Carter.