Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh

След страхотната си Gang Leader for a Day, Судир Венкатеш се оплита както житейски, така и литературно в тоя нефелен опит за описание на последващите си изследвания.

Въпреки твърдението, че е "нестандартен" социолог, всъщност истината е точно обратната: той е част от старата, установена догма в социологията, която едва в последните години бива дискредитирана за своята липса на научен и статистически подход и разчитане на анекдотични случаи за правене на общи заключения. Така и книгата му, вместо да опише подземната икономика на Ню Йорк, се занимава главно с личните проблеми на автора при преместването му от чикагския в нюйоркския университет и преживяванията му при срещите с няколко проститутки и един дилър на кока.… (more)

As a graduate student in Sociology in Chicago, the author ventures into the projects, and starts interviewing those who cope there. He becomes close to several people in power (a gang leader, a woman who 'gets things done' in the project), and recounts his experiences with them over a period of several years. It's an interesting portrayal of the society that emerged in this possibly unique situation, and he follows it till its death when the projects are torn down. Though the personalities he presents are really fascinating, I would have liked to seen a bit more of the hard facts and figures of the situation.… (more)

Venkatesh got quasi-famous when he was featured in the book Freakonomics. I’m a third of the way through it, and I’m not really liking it. Venkatesh is too "golly gee whiz, I’m hanging out with GANGSTAS!" I imagine the second third of the book will be him realizing shit is real, yo, and the last third will be about what lessons he’s learned. It will end with his heartfelt plea for politicians and the white majority to help people get out of the projects. Maybe I’m wrong. It would be nice to be wrong. But I think I’m right.

I applaud Venkatesh’s goals — to change how (white) academia sees the poor — but the book is a little too… I dunno. Naive, maybe. Venkatesh never mentions being afraid in dangerous situations, and it makes him seem less human. The most realistic he’s seemed in all 133 pages I’ve read so far is when he’s shocked by a beating he witnessed. But he never writes about being afraid. I appreciate the fact that he was playing curious scientist, but I’m sorry, when you see someone flash a gun for the first time, it’s scary. I’m not asking that he wet his pants or anything, but he had to have been more than just a little nervous.

I think I’m going to leave this one unfinished. I’m too annoyed to keep reading it.… (more)