Critical Review Respect, by Philippe Bourgois
Synopsis
Anthropologist Professor, Philippe Bourgois's journey in this book is to recognize how ethnic segregation and poverty seems be extremely predictable in one of the most luxurious cities in the world, which is New York City. With the goal of doing his three and a half year ethnographic investigation, Bourgois makes the decision to move himself and his wife to East Harlem which is considered to be one of the allegedly 'roughest ghetto' regions in America. On the other hand, what Bourgois finds out in El Barrio is a supportive loving community of people whose normal lives seem to be exchanged around things such as violence, crime and drugs. He then turns out to be extremely hooked and tangled with the inhabitants of El Barrio as they start welcoming him into their lives and their community and therefore, he is able to unrestrictedly detect, photograph and tape-recorded every feature of how they live on a day to day basis. Bourgois was able to utilize the transcripts in his book in their own words of the most close and illicit particulars of their personal lives in the Puerto Rican community from drugs, racism, relationships, violent crime, gang rape and poverty to childhood dreams of having a much better future for themselves. Despite being looked on as suspicious because he was white, Bourgois held firm to his passion and was able to continue on with his project.
Bourgois study was significant to Anthropology because he explains subculture and the explains how it fits to the group that he was studying. He tries to show that groups that take part in deviant behavior are generally defamed by society, and because of that, is subject to banishment. One kind of group is the vast subculture of the drug dealers. Bourgois study relates to Anthropology because the shows how a subculture is a group that has behavioral patterns and cultural values that are unique of a specific group in a community. It is very relevant to Anthropology because in his description titled In Search of Respect, Bourgois manages to go straight into the depths of this subculture and then decides to examine why drug dealers are living the way they do and how their profession is a not just a choice that is personal, however, a product of the community or society. However, Bourgois manages to use the account of his friend and subject named Primo to show the real situations of drug dealers and the motives behind why they decide to resort to illegal jobs. For example Bourgois mentioned, “Before turning 21 years old, none of them had fulfilled their dreams of finding stable well paid work.” (Bourgois 8)
Bourgois study fits perfectly with Anthropology because it discusses the norms within the subculture. In the book, he explains that the norms of drug dealers comprise of things such as drug houses, violent crime, street sales, and respect related with the rank of a drug dealer. In this norm, he goes on to explain how having the identity of a drug dealer points to a sense of some kind of pride and power to a man, even if it is just in his area. According to the book, Bourgois tried to make this point by showing how it stops a man from having to bear the disgrace of being dishonored or looked down upon by a superior during their working at a job that is legal.
Stigma is another thing that Bourgois tried to display in the book to show how these people are ostracized within their culture. Stigma is considered to be a mark of reproach or infamy. Bourgois shows that drug dealing is stigmatized for the reason that norms of drug dealing totally smash with the norms of society, most clearly by going against the laws that are written. The book shows how possessing or consuming illegal drugs is a crime, but then again the supply of these illegal drugs is more harshly punishable in a lot of different situations.
In one way, the book does achieve its point and shows the subculture and the norms of the lives of those living in the violent and drug infested community of New York. Bourgois was able to share a world that most do not get to see and as an anthropologist. The book achieves its point because Bourgois was able to show that there was not just negative of drugs violence and danger among those that lived in the neighborhood. He was also able to display that there was a strong feeling of community among the individuals that were living in El Barrio.
In some ways, it does not achieve it points because he does not make a clear argument about certain points. For example, Bourgois argues that, in order to reduce the violence that goes on inside of the drug community, people would need to consider the legalization of drugs. He goes on to state that this would force those that are small time dealers out of market of drugs, thus getting rid of the need for them to commit violence among everybody, while at the same time making the streets much more safer for all of its people. This does not really achieve much of a point talking about this because he does not go into more detail. Here, he does supply a solution to a problem but at the same time does not give much evidence to support his theory. He goes on to believe that this would also bring in some jobs to those that are already living in the community that are having difficulty looking for work that goes on in the mainstream economy.
All of this does relate to wider issues in anthropology because he shows how other cultures operate within the society. It relates to wider issues in anthropology because it shows a culture that is not much different than other societies around the world. Like other places, Bourgois shows the reader that society has a way of setting standards for everybody to strive toward, and then provides a very restricted set of accepted ways through which people are able to try and reach these standards. Unfortunately, like most other communities, Bourgois shows that the means that are accepted by society are not really obtainable to everyone. The book makes the point that the lack of equal chance in our society forces certain groups to resort to irregular behavior so as to attain their goals, or even just to stay alive. This is no different than other communities in other nations that are dealing with the same thing.
Bourgois assessments appear to be legit in his book. He makes a very strong argument when it comes to Bourgois’ portrayal of the dealers and their families because he makes it hard for the reader not to feel compassion and sympathy towards them. His argument is actually well defined and convincing owing to the fact that he moved his family to the part in which he was doing the study and had the bravery to go right in and really get involved with the families of this community. It is clear that the way in which Bourgois writes also respects his argument by being able to draw the reader in and then start making them feel like they themselves were there. A lot of people may not really agree with the explanation that Bourgois comes up with, but then again everyone who decides to read the book will more than likely re-think their own point of views right before they decide to discuss them again. It is clear that Bourgois went into the situation without prejudices because he never mentioned them in the book. Bourgois was able to find ways to become a part of a society that welcomed him in and at the same time because he was not judgmental, was able to get the information for this book.
Works Cited
Bourgois, Philippe. In Search of Respect. New York : Cambridge University Press, 1995.
