IN SEARCH OF RESPECT

“In search of respect”: Book Report

“In search of respect”: Book Report

Introduction

This paper will be discussing the book: In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio written by Philippe bourgois. Also discuss the summary of the ethnography that Philippe did, why did he do it, where what did he observe and the main issue relating to ethnography. Philippe Bourgois' the author of the non-fiction novel; In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio is an ethnography analyzing the dynamics of civilization in the streets of East Harlem, during the eighties (Bourgois, 2003). Through his writing, Bourgeois focuses on the challenges faced by second generation Puerto Rican drug dealers. These individuals consider themselves as victims to society through social separation, resulting in alienation. This assists with the structuring of the American economic and social systems, unwillingly forcing them to embody the “street culture of resistance” (Bourgois, 2003). This book is important to read because it provides the spread of drug use to the working classes is causing a shift of social representations and consumer products. As for alcohol, the stigma is not about the wealthy that have a "knowledge drink" - which is the guarantee cultural oenology, but the "big red" working classes. From a cultural attribute of young upper classes, the drug is in the 80's a social problem by changing the public (Bourgois, 2003). The disenchantment of specialists can be read as a sign of the proletarianization of the drug.

Summary of the Ethnography

In 1985, Bourgeois', along with his family moved to East Harlem of New York City, in an apartment where they stayed for about four years hoping to access a number of crack dealers to get an understanding of their daily life (Bourgois & Granovetter, 2002). The Game room provided Bourgeois with an opportunity to communicate with these people where Primo, the manager of the place eventually became his friend and a great insight into the life of crack dealers. The main purpose of Bourgeois' ethnography was the entire underground licensed off-track betting and drug-dealing (Bourgois & Granovetter, 2002). However, as time went by, Bourgeois' study shifted more to the underlying causes of drug dealing ranging primarily from earning respect to lack of cultural capital and racism that perpetuate and compel people into entering the world of illegal economy.

Since the mid-80s, Harlem has seen a sharp increase in drug use. It has been a particularly strong growth in the use of heroin in poor neighborhoods has increased the polarization of society about drugs. On the one hand the search for transcendence through the mediation of ecstasy and cocaine for the wealthy, the other drugs to forget for the popular classes instead of heroin use and, on more restricted in certain circles in Harlem, the crack (Clatts, Dorinda, et al 2002). Cannabis is a product consumed by all sectors; users generally do not consider this product as a drug.

According to Bourgois, substance abuse in the inner city is merely a symptom-and a ...