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Floating City: A Rogue Sociologist Lost and Found in New York's Underground Economy
New York is a city of highs and lows, where wealthy elites share the streets with desperate immigrants and destitute locals. Bridging this economic divide is New York’s underground economy, the invisible network of illicit transactions between rich and poor that secretly weaves together the whole city.
Sudhir Venkatesh, acclaimed sociologist at Columbia University and author of Gang Leader for a Day, returns to the streets to connect the dots of New York’s divergent economic worlds and crack the code of the city’s underground economy. Based on Venkatesh’s interviews with prostitutes and socialites, immigrants and academics, high end drug bosses and street-level dealers, Floating City exposes the underground as the city’s true engine of social transformation and economic prosperity—revealing a wholly unprecedented vision of New York.
A memoir of sociological investigation, Floating City draws from Venkatesh’s decade of research within the affluent communities of Upper East Side socialites and Midtown businessmen, the drug gangs of Harlem and the sex workers of Brooklyn, the artists of Tribeca and the escort services of Hell’s Kitchen. Venkatesh arrived in the city after his groundbreaking research in Chicago, where crime remained stubbornly local: gangs stuck to their housing projects and criminals stayed on their corners. But in Floating City, Venkatesh discovers that New York’s underground economy unites instead of divides inhabitants: a vast network of “off the books” transactions linking the high and low worlds of the city. Venkatesh shows how dealing in drugs and sex and undocumented labor bridges the conventional divides between rich and poor, unmasking a city knit together by the invisible threads of the underground economy.
Planting himself squarely within this unexplored world, Venkatesh closely follows a dozen New Yorkers locked in the underground economy. Bangledeshi shop clerks like Manjun and Santosh navigate immense networks of illegal goods and services, connecting inquisitive tourists with sex workers and drug dealers. Hispanic prostitutes like Angela and Carla feel secure enough in the new city to leave their old neighborhoods behind in pursuit of bigger money, yet abandon all the safety they had when their clients were known locals. Rich uptown women like Analise and Brittany have the changing city at their beck and call, but both turn to sex work as an easy way to make ends meet without relying on their family fortunes. Venkatesh’s greatest guide is Shine, an African American drug boss based in Harlem who hopes to break into the elusive, upscale cocaine market. Without connections among wealthy whites, Shine undertakes an audacious campaign of self-reinvention, leaving behind the certainties of race and class with all the drive of the greatest entrepreneurs. As Shine explains to Venkatesh, “This is New York! We’re like hummingbirds, man. We go flower to flower. . . . Here, you need to float.”
Floating City: A Rogue Sociologist Lost and Found in New York’s Underground Economy chronicles Venkatesh’s decade of discovery and loss in the shifting terrain of New York, where research subjects might disappear suddenly and new allies emerge by chance, where close friends might reveal themselves to be criminals of the lowest order. Propelled by Venkatesh’s numerous interviews and firsthand research, Floating City at its heart is a story of one man struggling to understand a complex global city constantly in the throes of becoming.
Sudhir Venkatesh, acclaimed sociologist at Columbia University and author of Gang Leader for a Day, returns to the streets to connect the dots of New York’s divergent economic worlds and crack the code of the city’s underground economy. Based on Venkatesh’s interviews with prostitutes and socialites, immigrants and academics, high end drug bosses and street-level dealers, Floating City exposes the underground as the city’s true engine of social transformation and economic prosperity—revealing a wholly unprecedented vision of New York.
A memoir of sociological investigation, Floating City draws from Venkatesh’s decade of research within the affluent communities of Upper East Side socialites and Midtown businessmen, the drug gangs of Harlem and the sex workers of Brooklyn, the artists of Tribeca and the escort services of Hell’s Kitchen. Venkatesh arrived in the city after his groundbreaking research in Chicago, where crime remained stubbornly local: gangs stuck to their housing projects and criminals stayed on their corners. But in Floating City, Venkatesh discovers that New York’s underground economy unites instead of divides inhabitants: a vast network of “off the books” transactions linking the high and low worlds of the city. Venkatesh shows how dealing in drugs and sex and undocumented labor bridges the conventional divides between rich and poor, unmasking a city knit together by the invisible threads of the underground economy.
Planting himself squarely within this unexplored world, Venkatesh closely follows a dozen New Yorkers locked in the underground economy. Bangledeshi shop clerks like Manjun and Santosh navigate immense networks of illegal goods and services, connecting inquisitive tourists with sex workers and drug dealers. Hispanic prostitutes like Angela and Carla feel secure enough in the new city to leave their old neighborhoods behind in pursuit of bigger money, yet abandon all the safety they had when their clients were known locals. Rich uptown women like Analise and Brittany have the changing city at their beck and call, but both turn to sex work as an easy way to make ends meet without relying on their family fortunes. Venkatesh’s greatest guide is Shine, an African American drug boss based in Harlem who hopes to break into the elusive, upscale cocaine market. Without connections among wealthy whites, Shine undertakes an audacious campaign of self-reinvention, leaving behind the certainties of race and class with all the drive of the greatest entrepreneurs. As Shine explains to Venkatesh, “This is New York! We’re like hummingbirds, man. We go flower to flower. . . . Here, you need to float.”
Floating City: A Rogue Sociologist Lost and Found in New York’s Underground Economy chronicles Venkatesh’s decade of discovery and loss in the shifting terrain of New York, where research subjects might disappear suddenly and new allies emerge by chance, where close friends might reveal themselves to be criminals of the lowest order. Propelled by Venkatesh’s numerous interviews and firsthand research, Floating City at its heart is a story of one man struggling to understand a complex global city constantly in the throes of becoming.
304 pages, Paperback
First published September 12, 2013
105 people are currently reading
2451 people want to read
About the author
Sudhir Venkatesh
11 books250 followersSudhir Alladi Venkatesh is William B. Ransford Professor of Sociology, and the Committee on Global Thought, at Columbia University in the City of New York.
His most recent book is Gang Leader for a Day (Penguin Press), which received a Best Book award from The Economist, and is currently being translated into Chinese, Korean, Japanese, German, Italian, Polish, French and Portuguese. His previous work, Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor (Harvard University Press, 2006) about illegal economies in Chicago, received a Best Book Award from Slate.com (2006) as well as the C. Wright Mills Award (2007). His first book, American Project: The Rise and Fall of a Modern Ghetto (2000) explored life in Chicago public housing.
Venkatesh’ editorial writings have appeared in The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Washington Post. He writes for Slate.com, and his stories have appeared in This American Life, WIRED, and on National Public Radio. His next book, under contract with Penguin Press, will focus on the role of black market economies—from sex work and drug trafficking to day care and entertainment—in the revitalization of New York since 1999.
Venkatesh is completing an ethnographic study of policing in the Department of Justice, where he served as a Senior Research Advisor from 2010-2011.
Venkatesh’s first documentary film, Dislocation, followed families as they relocated from condemned public housing developments. The documentary aired on PBS in 2005. He directed and produced a three-part award winning documentary on the history of public housing for public radio. And, he recently completed At the Top of My Voice, a documentary film on a scholar and artist who return to the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia to promote democracy and safeguard human rights.
Venkatesh received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago. He was a Junior Fellow at the Society of Fellows, Harvard University from 1996-1999, and an NSF CAREER award recipient in 2000. He holds a visiting appointment in Columbia University’s Law School and he is a voting member of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies.
His most recent book is Gang Leader for a Day (Penguin Press), which received a Best Book award from The Economist, and is currently being translated into Chinese, Korean, Japanese, German, Italian, Polish, French and Portuguese. His previous work, Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor (Harvard University Press, 2006) about illegal economies in Chicago, received a Best Book Award from Slate.com (2006) as well as the C. Wright Mills Award (2007). His first book, American Project: The Rise and Fall of a Modern Ghetto (2000) explored life in Chicago public housing.
Venkatesh’ editorial writings have appeared in The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Washington Post. He writes for Slate.com, and his stories have appeared in This American Life, WIRED, and on National Public Radio. His next book, under contract with Penguin Press, will focus on the role of black market economies—from sex work and drug trafficking to day care and entertainment—in the revitalization of New York since 1999.
Venkatesh is completing an ethnographic study of policing in the Department of Justice, where he served as a Senior Research Advisor from 2010-2011.
Venkatesh’s first documentary film, Dislocation, followed families as they relocated from condemned public housing developments. The documentary aired on PBS in 2005. He directed and produced a three-part award winning documentary on the history of public housing for public radio. And, he recently completed At the Top of My Voice, a documentary film on a scholar and artist who return to the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia to promote democracy and safeguard human rights.
Venkatesh received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago. He was a Junior Fellow at the Society of Fellows, Harvard University from 1996-1999, and an NSF CAREER award recipient in 2000. He holds a visiting appointment in Columbia University’s Law School and he is a voting member of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 167 reviews
November 17, 2013
This book could have easily been called "how Sudhir Venkatesh went to learn about New York's underground economy and wound up learning much more about himself." I found this to be a frustrating read because the author is at the center of what could have been an interesting look at the sex and drug trade in New York. He tells the readers that he is doing a study, how many interviews he has done, and even goes in depth on a handful of his subjects, but his conclusions are flimsy and seem to be based on the few people he does talk about. It turns out Venkatesh's favorite subject is himself, a point driven home by the trite college entrance essay self-revelations he makes in the book's final chapter.
I am sure he did some solid research but it was not presented in this book.
I am sure he did some solid research but it was not presented in this book.
February 18, 2015
I found Floating City a fascinating read. This is one of those rare nonfiction books that educates, enlightens, and entertains. Venkatesh's writing is never dry or dull. He invites us along on his journey, and writes as if he's confiding in a friend.
Through Venkatesh, we meet a wide variety of people, most of whom are involved in some aspect of the sex trade. We get to know spoiled rich kids in search of adventure, as well as the desperate and poor who are struggling to survive. Their stories are woven together in unexpected ways, sometimes challenging our stereotypes and other times reinforcing them.
But this book is much more than a look at the underground economy. Venkatesh struggles with his own boundaries. His work as a sociologist requires him to maintain an emotional distance, while his humanity makes it almost impossible for him to remain a passive observer. As he studies the behavior of others, he learns some things about himself. If we're paying attention, we'll learn a few things as well.
Through Venkatesh, we meet a wide variety of people, most of whom are involved in some aspect of the sex trade. We get to know spoiled rich kids in search of adventure, as well as the desperate and poor who are struggling to survive. Their stories are woven together in unexpected ways, sometimes challenging our stereotypes and other times reinforcing them.
But this book is much more than a look at the underground economy. Venkatesh struggles with his own boundaries. His work as a sociologist requires him to maintain an emotional distance, while his humanity makes it almost impossible for him to remain a passive observer. As he studies the behavior of others, he learns some things about himself. If we're paying attention, we'll learn a few things as well.
January 23, 2015
This is a pretty interesting journey into the underbelly of New York. At least from a voyeuristic point of view. Sudhir Venkatesh brings his readers from the high-class escort services of the city all the way down to the street level prostitution and drug rackets.
The only problem is that the second story, just like the subtitle, overpowers the book: A Rogue Sociologist Lost and Found in New York's Underground Economy. While the academic side of me appreciates his pains to tell us that it's all for a study, and explain in some detail his methodology, and work his career into his story, and describe modern sociology, it's just too much. That invisible fourth wall between performer and audience completely breaks down, resulting in some narrative disintegration. So read this for the content, as well as some revealing insights into the grey economy. But don't look too hard for a narrative flow.
Follow me on Twitter: @Dr_A_Taubman
The only problem is that the second story, just like the subtitle, overpowers the book: A Rogue Sociologist Lost and Found in New York's Underground Economy. While the academic side of me appreciates his pains to tell us that it's all for a study, and explain in some detail his methodology, and work his career into his story, and describe modern sociology, it's just too much. That invisible fourth wall between performer and audience completely breaks down, resulting in some narrative disintegration. So read this for the content, as well as some revealing insights into the grey economy. But don't look too hard for a narrative flow.
Follow me on Twitter: @Dr_A_Taubman
January 26, 2014
What a difference a title makes, or even a subtitle. The version I read, the US edition which I received as a review copy, had the subtitle “A Rogue Sociologist Lost and Found in New York’s Underground Economy.”
This irritated me throughout the book, because I kept expecting Sudhir Venkatesh to “go rogue”, and he never did. He perhaps got a bit more emotionally involved with his subjects than sociologists are supposed to, but he was always scrupulous about not affecting the outcomes, about being ethical and honest and reading people their rights before starting any interview. He was just a sociologist doing his research. It seemed to me that the “rogue” tag had been stuck on to make the book seem more enticing.
Fortunately the UK edition has the less catchy but much more accurate subtitle “Hustlers, Strivers, Dealers, Call Girls and Other Lives in Illicit New York”. So we’ll leave the “rogue” issue alone.
What this book does very well is to get under the skin of New York City and explore the lives of people in the underworld. It’s written more as a memoir than as a work of sociology, so there are plenty of real-life stories and no tedious footnotes. I enjoyed the connections Venkatesh makes between the drug dealers and porn-shop clerks he studies and the “above-ground” economy.
"These people were seekers. As much as the peppiest young entrepreneur in any Silicon Valley garage, they dreamed of changing their worlds. And in their daily lives as ordinary citizens and consumers, their illegitimate earnings helped many legitimate businesses stay afloat. In that sense, they were pillars of the community."
He shows the impromptu communities that spring up within these criminal and marginal worlds, the unexpected ties that bind people to each other, even if only for a time. The floating city refers to the fluidity of many people’s lives in a global city like New York, the lack of ties to particular neighbourhoods or other traditional social structures, the formation of more temporary communities. Mortimer, an ageing john, is touchingly cared for by local prostitutes as he recovers from a stroke. Manjun’s porn store becomes a safe haven for sex workers. People come and go, and the communities spring up in unlikely places before dying or moving on. It’s an interesting phenomenon to watch.
One fault in the book, though, is the way that Venkatesh makes himself the main character in the book, and then does nothing much of any interest. It’s fine to get some insight into his research techniques and his ethical dilemmas, but it goes way too far. There are too many passages where he’s worrying about where he’s going to get his next interview from, or panicking over his project’s lack of direction, and it’s just not very compelling stuff. Here’s one example among many:
"Whatever hopes I might have had about documenting the collision of worlds began to blow away in that cold autumn wind. I’d have to find another way to chart the connections the global city forged among disparate social types."
He’s clearly trying to make himself into a character with something important at stake, but it doesn’t really work. He also mentions a few times that his marriage is breaking apart, but tells us almost nothing about why or how or even who his wife is – we just get generalisations about being young when they got married and now having changing priorities. It feels as if the author is trying to make himself into an interesting character, but doesn’t want to reveal too much of his personal life.
The overall effect of this is to make the book feel a bit flat. There’s plenty of drama in the lives of the people Venkatesh is studying, and if he’d just related their stories, it would have worked better. Instead we spend a lot of time inside the head of an anxious sociologist, and it’s not a good place to be.
So this book is recommended for its insights into the New York City underworld, but marred by its choice of focus.
This irritated me throughout the book, because I kept expecting Sudhir Venkatesh to “go rogue”, and he never did. He perhaps got a bit more emotionally involved with his subjects than sociologists are supposed to, but he was always scrupulous about not affecting the outcomes, about being ethical and honest and reading people their rights before starting any interview. He was just a sociologist doing his research. It seemed to me that the “rogue” tag had been stuck on to make the book seem more enticing.
Fortunately the UK edition has the less catchy but much more accurate subtitle “Hustlers, Strivers, Dealers, Call Girls and Other Lives in Illicit New York”. So we’ll leave the “rogue” issue alone.
What this book does very well is to get under the skin of New York City and explore the lives of people in the underworld. It’s written more as a memoir than as a work of sociology, so there are plenty of real-life stories and no tedious footnotes. I enjoyed the connections Venkatesh makes between the drug dealers and porn-shop clerks he studies and the “above-ground” economy.
"These people were seekers. As much as the peppiest young entrepreneur in any Silicon Valley garage, they dreamed of changing their worlds. And in their daily lives as ordinary citizens and consumers, their illegitimate earnings helped many legitimate businesses stay afloat. In that sense, they were pillars of the community."
He shows the impromptu communities that spring up within these criminal and marginal worlds, the unexpected ties that bind people to each other, even if only for a time. The floating city refers to the fluidity of many people’s lives in a global city like New York, the lack of ties to particular neighbourhoods or other traditional social structures, the formation of more temporary communities. Mortimer, an ageing john, is touchingly cared for by local prostitutes as he recovers from a stroke. Manjun’s porn store becomes a safe haven for sex workers. People come and go, and the communities spring up in unlikely places before dying or moving on. It’s an interesting phenomenon to watch.
One fault in the book, though, is the way that Venkatesh makes himself the main character in the book, and then does nothing much of any interest. It’s fine to get some insight into his research techniques and his ethical dilemmas, but it goes way too far. There are too many passages where he’s worrying about where he’s going to get his next interview from, or panicking over his project’s lack of direction, and it’s just not very compelling stuff. Here’s one example among many:
"Whatever hopes I might have had about documenting the collision of worlds began to blow away in that cold autumn wind. I’d have to find another way to chart the connections the global city forged among disparate social types."
He’s clearly trying to make himself into a character with something important at stake, but it doesn’t really work. He also mentions a few times that his marriage is breaking apart, but tells us almost nothing about why or how or even who his wife is – we just get generalisations about being young when they got married and now having changing priorities. It feels as if the author is trying to make himself into an interesting character, but doesn’t want to reveal too much of his personal life.
The overall effect of this is to make the book feel a bit flat. There’s plenty of drama in the lives of the people Venkatesh is studying, and if he’d just related their stories, it would have worked better. Instead we spend a lot of time inside the head of an anxious sociologist, and it’s not a good place to be.
So this book is recommended for its insights into the New York City underworld, but marred by its choice of focus.
June 22, 2017
Most GR reviewers don't seem to like Sudhir Venkatesh's second "pop" book as much as Gang Leader for a Day, and while it didn't move me quite as much either, particularly at the end, it was still a page-turner full of compelling true stories. The book picks up where
Gang Leader for a Day
left off. Finished with his grad school work at the University of Chicago, Professor Venkatesh is now taking a job at Columbia University in New York. The main theme of the book is that unlike Chicago, where segregation along class and racial lines is stark, people in New York "float." The opening scene is at a party in a Soho art gallery where two of Professor Venkatesh's friends/subjects meet. Shine is a Harlem drug dealer looking to service the Wall Street crowd. Analise is a wealthy Harvard grad running an "escort service" that caters to the very same Wall Street crowd. In Chicago, these two would never have crossed paths. In New York, where richer neighborhoods are just a short subway ride away, cross-class interactions are much more frequent, at least in the criminal world. Note that I said "interactions," though. Actual upward mobility is much harder.
Most of the book is about prostitution - from high end "escorts" to low level street walkers. The high end was the more interesting. It's so lucrative a business, a Harvard graduate preferred to her other career options! Some of the madams make a fair case that they treat their employees well and that they are actually empowering the women. But on the high end of the business as well as the low, violence from the johns does happen. Then their case looks a whole lot weaker.
One of the criticisms I read of this book was that Professor Venkatesh put too much of his own story into it. I disagree completely. If he hadn't explained his own reactions to all he was seeing, he would have come across as a robot. Besides, most of us are much closer to him than we are to any other person in the book. He studies criminality, and we read about it, but most of us aren't engaging in it. And while he does make these people seem like normal, feeling human beings, it's inevitable that he, the observer, and we, the readers, experience some sense of moral superiority in this story. I know I'd rather be the bored secretary that I am than Analise, no matter how much money she makes.
The book is definitely more educational than it is voyeuristic, so it's definitely worth reading. I personally have come to admire Professor Venkatesh's work tremendously. Perhaps someday I'll gather the courage to write to him.
Most of the book is about prostitution - from high end "escorts" to low level street walkers. The high end was the more interesting. It's so lucrative a business, a Harvard graduate preferred to her other career options! Some of the madams make a fair case that they treat their employees well and that they are actually empowering the women. But on the high end of the business as well as the low, violence from the johns does happen. Then their case looks a whole lot weaker.
One of the criticisms I read of this book was that Professor Venkatesh put too much of his own story into it. I disagree completely. If he hadn't explained his own reactions to all he was seeing, he would have come across as a robot. Besides, most of us are much closer to him than we are to any other person in the book. He studies criminality, and we read about it, but most of us aren't engaging in it. And while he does make these people seem like normal, feeling human beings, it's inevitable that he, the observer, and we, the readers, experience some sense of moral superiority in this story. I know I'd rather be the bored secretary that I am than Analise, no matter how much money she makes.
The book is definitely more educational than it is voyeuristic, so it's definitely worth reading. I personally have come to admire Professor Venkatesh's work tremendously. Perhaps someday I'll gather the courage to write to him.
March 28, 2017
Boy, I was not expecting to be so put off by this book but here we are. I have no idea why this has such great blurbs about it being deeply reported or providing any kind of deeply felt insight. It's a memoir of a dude's academic and career anxiety, boringly repetitive, full of high school-level literary allusions, with "underworld" "characters" sprinkled in for cred and color. It's gross.
Page 168 and he's still saying "what I needed [to make my name in my new tenure-track job] was a new project..." This is a book about him trying to find that project; this book is not that project; this book is barely even about that project. Even half of the dialogue with pimps, prostitutes, drug dealers, and sex shop workers is about him (and none of it is plausible to me; all of these characters speak in the same voice and tone as Venkatesh-as-narrator).
Sheesh.
Page 168 and he's still saying "what I needed [to make my name in my new tenure-track job] was a new project..." This is a book about him trying to find that project; this book is not that project; this book is barely even about that project. Even half of the dialogue with pimps, prostitutes, drug dealers, and sex shop workers is about him (and none of it is plausible to me; all of these characters speak in the same voice and tone as Venkatesh-as-narrator).
Sheesh.
November 20, 2013
I really loved Gang Member for a Day and learned so much about life for people in the Chicago projects. So I was disappointed with this book. The book is sloppier, less about the people trying to make a living in the underground economies of sex and drugs in NYC, and more about the author's reflections on his own life and career motivations. The memoir part began as a distraction and became a nuisance. I learned some things about the lives of sex workers and drug dealers but not to the depth I'd hoped for.
February 16, 2014
After reading the first 40 pages of this book I couldn't believe this was non-fiction. It read like a poorly written work of fiction. The voice sounded nothing like an educated academic in the field of sociology would take. It seems like he got in trouble in New York which cause problems with his marriage and tried to turn the experience (which is quite lacking if indeed true) to coin a phrase to depict off-the-book economies: the title of the book Floating City.
I do not recommend this book for anyone. I am sorry I cannot find a compliment. This is surely another Black Swan.
I do not recommend this book for anyone. I am sorry I cannot find a compliment. This is surely another Black Swan.
November 4, 2013
Weirdly self-centered.
September 3, 2013
Not Particularly Enlightening …
This book was reviewed as part of Amazon's Vine program which included a free advance copy of the book.
Due to the critical praise of the author’s previous work (“Gang Leader for a Day”), I was drawn to read FLOATING CITY and had high expectations. Unfortunately, FLOATING CITY proved to be nothing more than a friendly-toned personal perspective of how a few select criminal profiteers struggle in New York City’s vast underworld.
Rather than revealing anything new or insightful about New York City’s black market and the struggles of those involved, FLOATING CITY reads more like a road-trip journal than a serious, provocative look at the city’s underworld. Author and “rogue” sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh recaps his long-term stay in post-9-11 New York City, where he mingles with a mixed variety of small-time players angling for bigger profits. The cast of characters and their individual plights are stereotypical and familiar: struggling foreigner illegally supplementing his low wages to bring/keep family in the US; a Harlem drug dealer and prostitutes trying to tap high-society for wealthy clientele; a spoiled and educated twenty-something running a black market business as a profitable alternative to the ho-hum/ordinary world of standard employment. Most of the book’s content plays out on television shows every night of the week.
I found the book’s most redeeming quality to be the author’s awkward presence in certain situations. Whether it is an omnipresent nuisance, nerdy tag-a-long or a quasi-confidante/friend, Venkatesh always seems to present himself as wearing a tuxedo to attend a tractor pull … out of place. But, it appears as though his subjects accept and even trust his scholarly intentions enough to allow his presence in their illegal world. Whether observing beat-downs of ambitious young drug-dealers, discussing guilt with married johns or simply chatting with a group of prostitutes, Venkatesh proves he’s been given almost unlimited access to their sordid worlds, but never generates any real drama or excitement from it. The frequent interjection of sociological theory and the author’s professional interpretations throughout the book offer a hint of scholarly intent, but only as an afterthought. Venkatesh also alludes to experiencing marital issues himself during the course of his time in New York City, but we never really see how it fits into the narrative.
FLOATING CITY had promise, but doesn’t deliver. The book’s purpose was difficult to interpret. Is FLOATING CITY designed to be an educational work or just a semi-adventurous journey that seemed worthy of putting in print? Considering how much time he put into this “study” (years), I’m wondering how much better the book would have been had the author simply dropped the sociologist angle from the start.
This book was reviewed as part of Amazon's Vine program which included a free advance copy of the book.
Due to the critical praise of the author’s previous work (“Gang Leader for a Day”), I was drawn to read FLOATING CITY and had high expectations. Unfortunately, FLOATING CITY proved to be nothing more than a friendly-toned personal perspective of how a few select criminal profiteers struggle in New York City’s vast underworld.
Rather than revealing anything new or insightful about New York City’s black market and the struggles of those involved, FLOATING CITY reads more like a road-trip journal than a serious, provocative look at the city’s underworld. Author and “rogue” sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh recaps his long-term stay in post-9-11 New York City, where he mingles with a mixed variety of small-time players angling for bigger profits. The cast of characters and their individual plights are stereotypical and familiar: struggling foreigner illegally supplementing his low wages to bring/keep family in the US; a Harlem drug dealer and prostitutes trying to tap high-society for wealthy clientele; a spoiled and educated twenty-something running a black market business as a profitable alternative to the ho-hum/ordinary world of standard employment. Most of the book’s content plays out on television shows every night of the week.
I found the book’s most redeeming quality to be the author’s awkward presence in certain situations. Whether it is an omnipresent nuisance, nerdy tag-a-long or a quasi-confidante/friend, Venkatesh always seems to present himself as wearing a tuxedo to attend a tractor pull … out of place. But, it appears as though his subjects accept and even trust his scholarly intentions enough to allow his presence in their illegal world. Whether observing beat-downs of ambitious young drug-dealers, discussing guilt with married johns or simply chatting with a group of prostitutes, Venkatesh proves he’s been given almost unlimited access to their sordid worlds, but never generates any real drama or excitement from it. The frequent interjection of sociological theory and the author’s professional interpretations throughout the book offer a hint of scholarly intent, but only as an afterthought. Venkatesh also alludes to experiencing marital issues himself during the course of his time in New York City, but we never really see how it fits into the narrative.
FLOATING CITY had promise, but doesn’t deliver. The book’s purpose was difficult to interpret. Is FLOATING CITY designed to be an educational work or just a semi-adventurous journey that seemed worthy of putting in print? Considering how much time he put into this “study” (years), I’m wondering how much better the book would have been had the author simply dropped the sociologist angle from the start.
February 12, 2018
Unexpectedly I liked this book...alot. Enough to read the author's Gang Leader for a Day. Floating City reveals a wholly unexpected view of New York City. The underground economy of illegal goods and services is the meat of the book. The author throws some truisms out the window such as "education is the key to success" or "your neighborhood defines who you are". Here crack dealers attend art gallery showings and "trustafarians" (my new fav word from the book) become moonlighting madams. The author refers back to his study of Chicago, albeit a small study. I find his generalizations to be true which added some credibility to his study and view of the fascinating underground in NYC. My fav quote "This is New York. We're like hummingbirds, man. We go flower to flower...Here you need to float."
March 21, 2017
I had to read this for a sociology course that I was taking. I need to write a paper on the info in this book. Needless to say, I'm pretty confused. There is very little science in this book and very little conclusions drawn or evidence discovered. The content was fascinating for the most part and the book reads like fiction- but that may be because it sounds like fiction. That is, there is no real scientific basis.
Furthermore, I'm not sure what this book is supposed to be about. Going into it, I was under the impression that this was about a sociologist doing participatory observation to learn about the underground economy in New York and parts were definitely about this. This is all I was interested in on a personal level and the only slightly useful work that I can add to my essay. However, I have read some reviews where others seem to believe that this is a memoir and they're not wrong. There is a lot about Venkatesh reflecting on his work, his love life, his future etc etc. I considered this to be meaningless fluff because I honestly didn't care and it didn't fit with the rest of the book at all. The book would be far more effective if Venkatesh didn't make himself a character- it was distracting and annoying and really didn't fit in a sociological work of non-fiction.
So the book was decent- really fascinating sometimes, yet other moments were quite dull and pointless. The idea of his research and the book in general was good, the story was interesting and the writing flowed well, yet this was really poorly organized and executed and came off as a bit of a mess.
Furthermore, I'm not sure what this book is supposed to be about. Going into it, I was under the impression that this was about a sociologist doing participatory observation to learn about the underground economy in New York and parts were definitely about this. This is all I was interested in on a personal level and the only slightly useful work that I can add to my essay. However, I have read some reviews where others seem to believe that this is a memoir and they're not wrong. There is a lot about Venkatesh reflecting on his work, his love life, his future etc etc. I considered this to be meaningless fluff because I honestly didn't care and it didn't fit with the rest of the book at all. The book would be far more effective if Venkatesh didn't make himself a character- it was distracting and annoying and really didn't fit in a sociological work of non-fiction.
So the book was decent- really fascinating sometimes, yet other moments were quite dull and pointless. The idea of his research and the book in general was good, the story was interesting and the writing flowed well, yet this was really poorly organized and executed and came off as a bit of a mess.
October 21, 2019
New York legfrissebb hangja füleimnek: a Strand könyvesboltban bukkantam erre a könyvre, és tökéletes helyszíni olvasmánynak ígérkezett. A témafelvetés, a szerző referenciái (korábbi sikeres chicagói bandakultúrás szociográfia, New York Times szerző stb) és persze a fülszöveg ajánlói* mind errefelé mutattak. Sajnos a könyv végül nem tett rám akkora benyomást, bár tényleg a New York-i alvilágban zajló kutatásról szól, elsősorban egy jó íráskészségű etnográfus szubjektív, önmagára reflektáló és személyes narratíváján keresztül.
Hogy mindez mint szociológiai írás mennyiben értékes szakmailag, abban nem vagyok kompetens – az viszont gyanús, hogy ez a könyv aligha tartalmaz konkrétan használható szociológiai anyagot. Hosszas, személyes, furcsán inszájder fókuszúnak tűnt nekem ez a történet: a kutató elsősorban mintha a saját útjáról számolna be, másodsorban néhány portréba belekezd, ám meglehetősen kevés érdemi információt hagyott bennem ez az egész. Dráma is van, meg egy csomó, meglehetősen fragmentált cselekmény, és hát mit mondjak, én nem vagyok küszködő szociológus-kutató-dokufilmes-író hogy ezzel az egész problematikával mihez kezdésem lehessen – érdekesnek érdekes, de hát ezt, hogy a szexmunkások meg a drogterjesztők milyen hálózattal működnek és hogyan veszik (vagy nem veszik) a szakmai kanyarokat, arról messze annyit nem mesélt ami 270-egynéhány oldalt indokoljon. Annyira pedig nem jó könyv ez, hogy elmenjen dokuregénynek, Tom Wolfe-hoz pl fasorban sincs.
Egy olvasást azért megért.
*ezek, most már hivatalos, szerintem tök értelmetlenek: egyszerűen minden best-selling, és fantasztikus, ésatöbbi, mindent megdicsér valaki egy hitelt érdemlő fórumről, aztán ember legyen a talpán, aki különbséget tud tenni a sokezer kiváló bestseller díjnyertes figyelemreméltó és egyébként is elkellolvasni könyv közt :( :( szerintem hosszabb távon ez senkinek sem jó, de hát hadd legyek már pesszimista.
Hogy mindez mint szociológiai írás mennyiben értékes szakmailag, abban nem vagyok kompetens – az viszont gyanús, hogy ez a könyv aligha tartalmaz konkrétan használható szociológiai anyagot. Hosszas, személyes, furcsán inszájder fókuszúnak tűnt nekem ez a történet: a kutató elsősorban mintha a saját útjáról számolna be, másodsorban néhány portréba belekezd, ám meglehetősen kevés érdemi információt hagyott bennem ez az egész. Dráma is van, meg egy csomó, meglehetősen fragmentált cselekmény, és hát mit mondjak, én nem vagyok küszködő szociológus-kutató-dokufilmes-író hogy ezzel az egész problematikával mihez kezdésem lehessen – érdekesnek érdekes, de hát ezt, hogy a szexmunkások meg a drogterjesztők milyen hálózattal működnek és hogyan veszik (vagy nem veszik) a szakmai kanyarokat, arról messze annyit nem mesélt ami 270-egynéhány oldalt indokoljon. Annyira pedig nem jó könyv ez, hogy elmenjen dokuregénynek, Tom Wolfe-hoz pl fasorban sincs.
Egy olvasást azért megért.
*ezek, most már hivatalos, szerintem tök értelmetlenek: egyszerűen minden best-selling, és fantasztikus, ésatöbbi, mindent megdicsér valaki egy hitelt érdemlő fórumről, aztán ember legyen a talpán, aki különbséget tud tenni a sokezer kiváló bestseller díjnyertes figyelemreméltó és egyébként is elkellolvasni könyv közt :( :( szerintem hosszabb távon ez senkinek sem jó, de hát hadd legyek már pesszimista.
July 16, 2022
As someone who was in a PhD program in ethnomusicology for eight years before dropping out, I get Sudhir more than I want to. His research drives his life, and his passion about it is clear, but complicated. The webs he weaves in NYC’s sex worker worlds is complex, and he presents it well. This book was a bit hard to read because of relating to Sudhir and the importance of research…except that I left my PhD to not have research rule my life.
November 15, 2015
This book rubbed me the wrong way. I almost don't know where to start my review because most of the notes that I took while reading were page citations of points where I felt the need to jot down a snide remark in response to a terrible passage. Probably what irritated me the most, though, is what a waste of a good premise this was. What could have been a book revealing the mechanisms of the black market underworld of drugs and sex in NYC is instead a sniveling, navel-gazing, haughty, self-congratulatory disappointment.
Stylistically, the problem with the book in one sentence is that it is written in a way that gives the impression that the author thinks his autobiography is as compelling as the biographies of his subjects. In a way, the book is narrated as a quest by a renegade professor for tenure at Columbia! The author is able to overcome the odds and fight through a dissolving marriage to still have contempt for the johns of the sex trade! The evil gatekeepers of Ivy League sociology departments, who are insistent on having “hard data” and “scientifically significant sample sizes” in their research can’t hold him down! Can't they see? He has a gift he wants to share with the world! The gift of being a self-made documentary filmmaker!
Kidding aside, my greatest recurring issue was that when the author expressed concern for his subjects, it often seemed to be trumped by a concern for how his subjects could help or hurt his career. Take this not atypical passage, as he was traveling back to Chicago, where “projects [where] I had studies were starting to get torn down, and I was traveling there to follow families as they were evicted and forced to relocate…I started to experiment with filming these families in an effort to make my first documentary. I was itching to tell Shine, because I hoped he might let me make a film of his escapades, but I was afraid he’d mock me for trying to rise above my station. I wanted to wait until I had something in the can, preferably with an Oscar for best documentary.” Really? Other passages include unnecessary quotes from his subjects, like when as aspiring madam confides to the author “Will you keep on talking to me about this stuff...It feels good to talk about and nobody else understands.” I lost count of the number of self-important sentences that began with “as an ethnographer…” Perhaps the most galling, though, was how early in the book, we find out that the upper crust boyfriend of the aspiring madam is verbally and physically abusive with her and steals her money. However, by the tail end of the book, the author is buddy-buddy with the boyfriend and passing along script ideas for the boyfriend’s nascent filmmaking business (which was founded in part with the stolen money from the girlfriend). All of these little asides came at the expense of getting a better understanding of the subjects and seemed to leave the subjects’ stories partially untold.
From a content perspective, the book suffers from a limited number of perspectives to advance a narrative theory. I get it: there is limited interaction in NYC between high society and the poor except for when their paths cross in the drug and/or sex industry. And it takes a special person even in those circumstances to bridge that divide. But to advance that (let’s face it, intuitive) theory through the stories of one porn store clerk that goes missing, one drug dealer trying to make it in downtown, and two or three madams is less than compelling. Especially when I didn’t find there to be adequate hard data to illuminate his theories and make the necessary links. Other links that he only half-addressed were numerous. There are many allusions, but few details, to his previous research in Chicago and how that contrasts to NYC. There are allusions, but few details, to a crumbling marriage and how that contrasts to johns wanting to save their marriage with prostitutes. There are allusions, but few details, to the challenges of being an immigrant and how that contrasts to being a prostitute.
Maybe all of the interviews that the author conducted warranted a book. But this isn’t the book they warranted.
January 15, 2019
This was a good read, not as many academic study references as Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets since it was based on Sudhir's notes, personal diaries, etc and he turned other parts of into formal studies. It also didn't flow as well - which, I get is because Sudhir had to float as Shine keeps telling him - but at times it was jarring to read about Analise or Margot and then go back to Shine who we had last been with over 30 pages ago. I enjoyed this, I think Sudhir is a good writer for the layperson and it was an interesting peel-back-the-curtain on the black market/sex trade in NYC. It would be interesting to compare it to the present time with the Internet and the closure of certain websites but I'm sure that study is still a year or three out from publication.
September 6, 2014
I had heard about Sudhir Venkatesh’s previous book, GANG LEADER FOR A DAY, and was intrigued by his second book, with its subtitle, “ a rogue sociologist lost and found in New York’s underground economy”. Other descriptions included a back cover blurb form the NY times, “Deep reporting. . . Journalism of a very high order.” Then there is Venkatesh’s own description, “A Memoir” of his experiences researching middle and upper class segments of New York’s sex trade.” I was curious about this border crossing work. In some ways it is a not unfamiliar account of an early career ethnographer, and his dilemmas about his relationships with his subjects and his questions about what and where to disseminate his work, as well as trying to locate himself in his department and establish a publication record that will merit tenure. It is a little different in that it is not embedded in or an appendix to the ethnography itself. The question is whether it works as a stand alone book and for whom? One gets a sense of emergence as he discusses the evolution of his project, and credits various subjects as shaping his thinking in various ways. There are also nods to his U of Chicago professors, and an ongoing discussion of how he had to learn the ways New York is different from Chicago. (For insiders, this is a slightly amusing current, given the competition between Chicago and Columbia sociology departments.) His ten year investigation of prostitution and, to a smaller degree, the drug trade in New York from the perspective of the workers is written up in novelistic style—much of it is related through “conversations” between Venkatesh and his subjects, so it resembles certain forms of creative non-fiction; the Lee Gutkind variety. (Somehow all his recorded conversations sound much more articulate than my respondents' quotes.) There is a little bit of Venkatesh’s own story, his relations with both black and white New Yorkers, and the failure of his marriage and how that impacted his fieldwork experience. I found the book quite readable, but I am not sure who the audience is. The picture of how one can move in the underground economy—as well as when people cannot move—is sociologically interesting, and telling it through the careers of different kinds of sex workers would make it engaging for undergrads, and undergrad sociology classes may be the main audience for the book.
December 12, 2019
Dr. Venkatesh’s book follows well in style from his first book Gamg Leader for a Day, but this book is much more of a memoir than it is an ethnographical study of the underground of NYC. While I really enjoyed his first book, the things I enjoyed most from the first book (deep connections with characters, some mix of scientific evidence mixed with stories, and riveting narrative of interlacing storylines) are weaker in this book. Perhaps, as the author notes, it is the nature of NYC compared to Chicago that he cannot study connections with the same level of emotion and depth as he could in Chicago or perhaps it was the breadth of the chosen topic, but I really missed that storytelling quality from the first book - the stories told here just weren’t interlaced enough to keep me hooked in the same way.
From a methodological standpoint, it frequently seemed like Dr. Venkatesh was trying to prove his hypothesis of the upper and lower class underworlds colliding, which made the presentation feel biased at times. It also still suffers from the generalizability problem that the author laments throughout - but he is keenly self-aware of that flaw. It is a collection of stories, as the author duly noted at the end, I had just hoped it would have been a bit more rigorous than that for this format.
Ultimately, this is a tale of a researcher’s self-discovery by way of the New York underworld. That arc is beautiful to see and it includes elements to which many readers will likely find some way to relate.
Like his first, the whole book is very self-aware, he never approaches it like a research paper, so he can’t be faulted for it not being one; I just hoped it would be a bit more full of conclusions and information, rather than just stories and self-discovery. I’ll need to go read his papers to get more of what I was curious about in this subject area - which will be interesting to do now that I have the anecdotes behind the research.
From a methodological standpoint, it frequently seemed like Dr. Venkatesh was trying to prove his hypothesis of the upper and lower class underworlds colliding, which made the presentation feel biased at times. It also still suffers from the generalizability problem that the author laments throughout - but he is keenly self-aware of that flaw. It is a collection of stories, as the author duly noted at the end, I had just hoped it would have been a bit more rigorous than that for this format.
Ultimately, this is a tale of a researcher’s self-discovery by way of the New York underworld. That arc is beautiful to see and it includes elements to which many readers will likely find some way to relate.
Like his first, the whole book is very self-aware, he never approaches it like a research paper, so he can’t be faulted for it not being one; I just hoped it would be a bit more full of conclusions and information, rather than just stories and self-discovery. I’ll need to go read his papers to get more of what I was curious about in this subject area - which will be interesting to do now that I have the anecdotes behind the research.
September 1, 2013
I received an advance copy of this book through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. Thanks!
Though this book was written by a sociologist, it is not to be taken as a part of a sociological study. Venkatesh makes this clear in his author's note at the end of the book. Rather, it is a memoir of his experiences as he "floated" through New York City's underground economy. Anyone looking for hard data and facts in this book would be disappointed. Anyone looking for some interesting stories may be quite pleased with what they find.
Venkatesh aims with this book to examine the connections between people of different races and economic classes in the seemingly stratified society that exists in New York City. Many people might think that a crack dealer from Harlem could not possibly have anything to do with a wealthy young socialite, but this book deals a serious blow to that assumption.
While observing and interviewing his subjects, Venkatesh does not remain impartial, nor does he attempt to limit his influence. In a sociological study, this (along with his frequent comments on his feelings about his subjects and his own personal life) would prove problematic. However, this book is meant to be read as a memoir, not a study (despite Venkatesh's numerous mentions of increasing his "n's"). As a memoir, the book succeeds overall.
I rated this book three stars, which for me essentially translates into this: I'm not sorry that I read it, but I will not read it again and I won't recommend it to a friend unless he/she expresses an interest in this particular subject. It is interesting and offered me a window into a world that I never would have known about, had I not read it. If the subject matter interests you at all, it's worth a read.
Though this book was written by a sociologist, it is not to be taken as a part of a sociological study. Venkatesh makes this clear in his author's note at the end of the book. Rather, it is a memoir of his experiences as he "floated" through New York City's underground economy. Anyone looking for hard data and facts in this book would be disappointed. Anyone looking for some interesting stories may be quite pleased with what they find.
Venkatesh aims with this book to examine the connections between people of different races and economic classes in the seemingly stratified society that exists in New York City. Many people might think that a crack dealer from Harlem could not possibly have anything to do with a wealthy young socialite, but this book deals a serious blow to that assumption.
While observing and interviewing his subjects, Venkatesh does not remain impartial, nor does he attempt to limit his influence. In a sociological study, this (along with his frequent comments on his feelings about his subjects and his own personal life) would prove problematic. However, this book is meant to be read as a memoir, not a study (despite Venkatesh's numerous mentions of increasing his "n's"). As a memoir, the book succeeds overall.
I rated this book three stars, which for me essentially translates into this: I'm not sorry that I read it, but I will not read it again and I won't recommend it to a friend unless he/she expresses an interest in this particular subject. It is interesting and offered me a window into a world that I never would have known about, had I not read it. If the subject matter interests you at all, it's worth a read.
January 10, 2014
“Floating City” explores an improvised and largely hidden community of commerce and identity that transcends 20th century boundaries of place and race. Venkatesh’s work attempts to demonstrate the importance of cultural capital in navigating globalized economic exchanges - markets which encompass legal and illegal income streams. As he illustrates, blurring of market boundaries isn’t necessarily a democratizing force as the masters of this game are those with the capital and entrepreneurial spirit to succeed and, over and over again, working class actors fall by the wayside. I wish I could have learned more about this to share with you but this book is in fact a memoir of how Venkatesh developed his insights through single-minded pursuit while his personal life apparently crumbled in the background. Although it seemed to me this work was marketed and promoted as a sociological study, Venkatesh’s own biases and how he apparently failed to process or seek supervision around them over a ten-year period really is – at worst - the second-billed actor on this stage. Although a study on professional ethics in sociology – or any field – would be really fascinating to read, this improvisation between “Growing Pains of a Sociologist: A Novel” and the fascinating improvisational bazaars managed by skilled cultural brokers he frustratingly teases is a disappointment as a read. I’d have much rather had a collection of the articles that undoubtedly blossomed from this work rather than the failed marriage that it is.
April 8, 2014
What I liked so much about this book was that it was even more about the author, himself, than it was about the subjects of his sociological studies. He saw himself with great honesty and insight, through the mechanism of his studying of other people and their lives. It is a very unusual, personal sort of sociology rather than in any way coldly scientific. And in spite of being an academic, he actually writes very well, with humor and grace and depth expressed in ways that us mere mortals - those of us without advanced degrees - can understand. In the course of examining himself in the context of his studies, the author brings up a whole lot of interesting questions about the study of other people, whether or not the study itself pollutes its results through the process of study, motivations for it and the boundaries that should be maintained, can't be maintained and naturally occur in such matters. It ought to be required reading for any sociology students.
December 31, 2013
Floating City is a sociological study of the modern NYC underbelly, as experienced by Venkatesh in the years following his move to Columbia to lecture in 1999.
Having already completed a study of Chicago gangs, Venkatesh originally set out to explore the lives of the drug gangs in his new city, but quickly found that due to its constant state of flux, the scene in NYC was very different.
Featuring his interaction with drug dealers, sex workers from every social strata and ultimately their 'madams', I wasn't put off too much by Venkatesh's sometime self pity in his writing-I was interested in his experience, but ultimately was glad that I live in a very different world!
Having already completed a study of Chicago gangs, Venkatesh originally set out to explore the lives of the drug gangs in his new city, but quickly found that due to its constant state of flux, the scene in NYC was very different.
Featuring his interaction with drug dealers, sex workers from every social strata and ultimately their 'madams', I wasn't put off too much by Venkatesh's sometime self pity in his writing-I was interested in his experience, but ultimately was glad that I live in a very different world!
April 27, 2014
A good writer, but the book itself was a little weak. Mostly about prostitutes in NYC, mixed in with some stuff about coke dealers, and a little bit about the porn business and strip clubs, and a lot about his own issues and then some more about academics and the field of sociology. All interesting topics but a little too mixed up together. Actually, if he wasn't such a good writer this would have been crap, but I'd give it 3.5 stars if that was possible.
May 23, 2014
More than the book, I am fascinated by the author Sudhir Venkatesh. He seems equally at ease with scholarly professors, high society, drug dealers, prostitutes, porn video store owners, etc. On reading this book, I wanted to befriend Sudhir as I am sure that he has a treasure trove of interesting stories and experiences that he can entertain with. This book will open your eyes and debunk any pre-conceived notions that you might have of drug-dealers and prostitutes.
May 1, 2016
I’ve read about the author’s research on drug gangs in Freakonomics. This book describes his research in New York underground, chiefly drugs and sex workers. It is not a sociological study; it is more an emotional diary of a researcher with a lot of interweaving stories of both low and high income people, engaged in the underground economy. I have to admit, I’m a sucker for those empathic anecdotes and it was a great read for me.
September 20, 2013
This isn't like the rest of his work - the book is too focused on himself, and his life while doing the research on the sex trade in NYC. It'd be interesting to get to read that (should be showing up soon).
January 11, 2014
Too much self-promotion; too many sentences beginning with “I” as the subject or “me” as the object. Sudhir is not a disinterested researcher, but very involved with his subjects. Thus, this reads much more interestingly as mainstream journalism than professional sociology.
September 25, 2013
Loved this book about the underworld of commerce in a big city and the juxtaposition of legal and illegal markets.
August 4, 2019
This is a book about Sudhir Venkatesh and how talking to all those economic underworld people changed him. It's a book about a white knight who doesn't really connect the dots about how similar he is to the people he most allied with, a cocaine kingpin and a madam. Venkatesh never really gets into why those people might be allied with him, despite having talked about why elsewhere: they were looking to have the cultural capital that comes from being friends with a Columbia University professor.
The book itself is well-written, fast-paced, gripping. As a work of fiction it would be great. As a work of sociology, I'm not so sure of its value. There is also a line between acknowledging one's own involvement and centering oneself in the narrative. In my mind David Valentine stands on one side with his, "Imagining Transgender" and Venkatesh stands on the other. Also given Columbia's finding of financial malfeasance the year before this book was published, and Venkatesh's close involvement with the people he studies has me easily imagining a man unable to act ethically, influenced by his time spent with law-breakers and willing to justify his own actions, choosing to divert some funds where they needed to go.
I do wonder how much of the book is fabricated to fit Venkatesh's narrative. How much has been exaggerated to pull on our heartstrings. But it's a fascinating book nonetheless. It's a book about whiteness and wealth, and how those who don't have either can sometimes become valuable enough to rich white people that they can share in some of the benefits these jet-setters leave behind. This is a book about how marginalized people can make some use of the rich white people, but mostly those at the top remain at the top, isolated from the social consequences and desparation experienced by those below them forced into illegal work they'd rather not take. But for those like Venkatesh and his informant Shine, the ground beneath them remains shaky and they never really achieve the stable place that rich white people maintain so effortlessly, and it can be so very easily stripped away.
The author claimed a lot of humility but I'm not sure he really demonstrated it. This book is filled with confessions but just rings as being too close but not intimate enough. I'd rather read about what the people Venkatesh interviewed actually said rather than get filtered through Venkatesh to us.
Ultimately: did Venkatesh actually help anyone with writing this book, or did he use the voices of others to advance his own degree? Is this just 275 pages of suffering porn?
The book itself is well-written, fast-paced, gripping. As a work of fiction it would be great. As a work of sociology, I'm not so sure of its value. There is also a line between acknowledging one's own involvement and centering oneself in the narrative. In my mind David Valentine stands on one side with his, "Imagining Transgender" and Venkatesh stands on the other. Also given Columbia's finding of financial malfeasance the year before this book was published, and Venkatesh's close involvement with the people he studies has me easily imagining a man unable to act ethically, influenced by his time spent with law-breakers and willing to justify his own actions, choosing to divert some funds where they needed to go.
I do wonder how much of the book is fabricated to fit Venkatesh's narrative. How much has been exaggerated to pull on our heartstrings. But it's a fascinating book nonetheless. It's a book about whiteness and wealth, and how those who don't have either can sometimes become valuable enough to rich white people that they can share in some of the benefits these jet-setters leave behind. This is a book about how marginalized people can make some use of the rich white people, but mostly those at the top remain at the top, isolated from the social consequences and desparation experienced by those below them forced into illegal work they'd rather not take. But for those like Venkatesh and his informant Shine, the ground beneath them remains shaky and they never really achieve the stable place that rich white people maintain so effortlessly, and it can be so very easily stripped away.
The author claimed a lot of humility but I'm not sure he really demonstrated it. This book is filled with confessions but just rings as being too close but not intimate enough. I'd rather read about what the people Venkatesh interviewed actually said rather than get filtered through Venkatesh to us.
Ultimately: did Venkatesh actually help anyone with writing this book, or did he use the voices of others to advance his own degree? Is this just 275 pages of suffering porn?
February 24, 2019
Sudhir Vankatesh has done truly pathbreaking work on the nature of the modern criminal underworld in Chicago, and I had hoped that with his new move to Columbia University, he could do equally pathbreaking work on New York. It doesn't seem like he's lived up to his own, admittedly high, standards.
The book follows a series of individuals engaged in different criminal enterprises in the city, the most important of which is prostitution. He follows Manjun, a porn-shop owner in Hell's Kitchen who rents out the back of his stores to prostitutes, such as Angela, who is an older Latina trying to break into the "white market" by moving with colleagues to a communally rented flat in Brooklyn. There's Margot, who is a madam running an escort service, but who works on everything from keeping her employees' savings straight to organizing their calendar to soliciting new business. Vankatesh even learns at one point that one of his friends from the upper-crust, Analise, has secretly been running an escort service among her friends on the side. For many people it seems, prostitution is a part-time but still incredibly lucrative business. For others, such as Angela, its a series of endless beatings and robberies.
The best parts of the book, however, concern Shine, who tries to move from running a crack gang in Harlem to the powdered cocaine business downtown. He uses more sophisticated and better dressed girls to insinuate his group into bars, pays off the bartenders to look out for customers or to ignore his work, and tries to keep keep it together while avoiding the cops, even as he encounters difficulties laying off people uptown, some of whom then try to move into his business too.
So Vankatesh did find some real stories here, but they often feel like little more than the surface, unlike his deeper dives in Chicago. Half the book is also taken up with sociological navel-gazing, and every real revelation seems to be followed up by Vankatesh's imagining how it could effect his career in the Columbia Sociology Department. In a weird sense, the theme of the book is Vankatesh's search for a theme for the book, which he figures in the end is "floating," or the tendency of the New York underworld to float between different environments. This sort of vacuous analysis distorts what could be some worthwhile research.
The book follows a series of individuals engaged in different criminal enterprises in the city, the most important of which is prostitution. He follows Manjun, a porn-shop owner in Hell's Kitchen who rents out the back of his stores to prostitutes, such as Angela, who is an older Latina trying to break into the "white market" by moving with colleagues to a communally rented flat in Brooklyn. There's Margot, who is a madam running an escort service, but who works on everything from keeping her employees' savings straight to organizing their calendar to soliciting new business. Vankatesh even learns at one point that one of his friends from the upper-crust, Analise, has secretly been running an escort service among her friends on the side. For many people it seems, prostitution is a part-time but still incredibly lucrative business. For others, such as Angela, its a series of endless beatings and robberies.
The best parts of the book, however, concern Shine, who tries to move from running a crack gang in Harlem to the powdered cocaine business downtown. He uses more sophisticated and better dressed girls to insinuate his group into bars, pays off the bartenders to look out for customers or to ignore his work, and tries to keep keep it together while avoiding the cops, even as he encounters difficulties laying off people uptown, some of whom then try to move into his business too.
So Vankatesh did find some real stories here, but they often feel like little more than the surface, unlike his deeper dives in Chicago. Half the book is also taken up with sociological navel-gazing, and every real revelation seems to be followed up by Vankatesh's imagining how it could effect his career in the Columbia Sociology Department. In a weird sense, the theme of the book is Vankatesh's search for a theme for the book, which he figures in the end is "floating," or the tendency of the New York underworld to float between different environments. This sort of vacuous analysis distorts what could be some worthwhile research.
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