Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets
Selected Book Details
- Paperback
- Edition: Reprint
- Author: Sudhir Venkatesh
- Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
- Release Date: December 2008
- ISBN-10: 014311493X
- ISBN-13: 9780143114932
- List Price: $16.00
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryIn this “riveting”(The New York Times) work of nonfiction, a sociologist infiltrates the world of Chicago’s crack-dealing gangs |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Couldn't Put it Down...Barely
Rating:
Dr. Venkatesh is a tough Indian-American. Candidly discussing the expectations of his parents that he get into a field of work that is commonly entered into by people of his origin (i.e. technology...computers, etc.), he decides to take another route to his studies after close relations with professors who were guiding him to study and write in what is this writer's gift: sociology. Dr. Venkatesh is not afraid to be around crack cocaine and heroin, but he is afraid to ever use it. At the beginning he states that he's in a crackhouse, but he's not there to do anything illegal. He's there to write about the underworld from the first person.
Dangerous at times, Dr. Venkatesh is taken into the gunfights of rival gangs, sometimes putting himself in harms way to help people he's studying, and he even "takes sides" by himself becoming a "gang leader for a day" when he befriends his main character on whom he is doing his thesis: a crack cocaine dealer. Through their eyes we see the canvassing for votes that occurs amongst the projects of the Chicago suburb that he studies, and how they (the dealers) actually appear to "help" people throughout the novel. (Apparently they're not to be painted all black when put on a black/white/gray line).
Dr. Venkatesh goes all the way to VIP dealers who are way up the food chain of drug dealing as he gains the trust of one street crack dealer. He shuns off the words that might hurt someone else's not tough skin when he is called "Injun" by kids he is trying to take care of and "Ayrab" by a lot of the blacks and other minorities in America that he is studying to show how the drug dealing affects the community, both in a positive sense (for the minorities) and, more broadly, in a negative sense...for what is called "the majority" in America.
As a scientist, he rises to the top of what his thesis is trying to explore and he finds out how much of the shift of wealth and property exists when dealers make it big without being caught. Of course, he explores the very few who are actually caught, because in the end it's the ones who are involved in this trade who are all the losers. But Dr. Venkatesh does not paint them all losers, instead he brushes aside his values (hesitantly and not all out) to have compassion on the characters that make up his real life story. In fact, Dr. Venkatesh, whose fame partially started with the book "Freakonomics," has released scientific journal articles which are in scholarly libraries that specifically list "crack cocaine" and "economics" in the same title.
How might his role as a gang leader for a day accomplish anything? It can bring to light the role of the bell curve and of science, because when it comes to sociology and psychology (both sciences), public policy and statistical inferences can be made that benefit society in the long run.
Book Purchase
Rating:
I received my book as described in a timely manner. I was quite satisfied with my purchase and would recommend this buyer to others.
Needed More Street Smarts
Rating: 
A look at the power brokers and inner workings of one of Chicago's most notorious public housing projects. Venkatesh shows many times that he has book smarts, but not a lot of street smarts.
Gangs, Drugs & Power Brokers
Rating:
As far as social research projects go, this has to be one of the most interesting ones I have read to date, even if the ethics and the methods of the author often leave you uncomfortable. Sudhir Venkatesh documents his experience in the gang subculture of Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago. Naïve and eager to learn he stumbles into the building, is held hostage, and subsequently returns to spend nearly five years in the community, learning about the economics, the people, and the powerbrokers.
For most of us, this book is a fascinating and one of a kind voyeuristic view into the life of a poor neighborhood dominated by local power brokers, drugs, and gangs - you couldn't invent better characters in a science fiction novel. Except, of course, it is all real. Captivating read.
A book that could launch a thousand Balzac stories...
Rating:
I've been inspired by the Wire to read some more on gang culture in contemporary America. It should be said the Wire isn't all about gangs, but that is a significant group, and the key one of the first season, like the government. The rest of the seasons are variations on that theme, looking at other various rotten institutions in the modern 'rustbelt' city, from schools to unions to newspapers.
Gang Leader for a Day is another BookTV pickup, and this one is like one of those nonfiction books you find at airports, not exactly a meal but good heavy snacking.
The subtitle is 'A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets' and this is true in many ways. Venkatesh was a grad student at the University of Chicago who struck up a relationship with a gang in Chicago, the Black Kings. The 'rogue' refers to his disregard for scholarly convention, which has been a criticism of this book, and which he was wise to note throughout in order to defuse that angle. Still, it's a ripping good read with lots of telling detail--again, just don't mistake it for 'scholarly research'.
Books for 'lay' people such as this can be controversial in academe, as both unscholarly and, if successful, can provoke jealousy. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall as he was being considered for his current position at Columbia University.
One interesting feature is how the gang fits in with other social groups, like the tenants' assocation at the projects, the police, etc. The police are, like in the Wire, essentially their own 'gang' which gets their 'cut'--one way or another, e.g. by confiscating drug leaders' cars or other stuff.
It's also interesting seeing how the gang evolves over time, as the leader tries to ascend in the hierarchy. I was amused that he drove the same car as me--a Malibu (he was a midlevel leader) but his was purple with bitchin' rims. His star diminishes as his territory/population eventually diminish, due to Federal demolishment of the projects...also a theme of the Wire.
On the whole, I was surprised how 'true to life' the Wire actually is in its portrayal of 'what goes down' especially in the first season, based on this book, right down to the more 'friendly' intergang basketball rivalries.
A thousand Balzac stories lie beneath this 'sociology lite.'
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