Gang Leader for a day : : a Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets

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Includes index.
How does it feel to be black and poor -- First days on Federal Street -- Someone to watch over me -- Gang leader for a day -- Ms. Bailey's neighborhood -- The hustler and the hustled -- Black and blue -- The stay-together gang.
The story of the young sociologist who studied a Chicago crack-dealing gang from the inside captured the world's attention when it was first described in Freakonomics. This is the full story of how Venkatesh managed to gain entrée into the gang, what he learned, and how his method revolutionized the academic establishment. When first-year grad student Venkatesh walked into one of Chicago's most notorious housing projects, he was looking for people to take a survey on urban poverty. He never imagined that he would befriend a gang leader and spend the better part of a decade inside the projects under his protection. He got to know the neighborhood dealers, crackheads, squatters, prostitutes, pimps, activists, cops, organizers, and officials. From his position of unprecedented access, he observed the gang as they operated their crack-selling business and rose or fell within the ranks of the gang's complex organizational structure.--Publisher information.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Sociology in the Streets submitted by Sara W on June 20, 2011, 10:34pm The book does a great job of capturing sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh's seven-year experience hanging out at the Robert Taylor Housing Projects in Chicago as the personal guest of a local gang leader.

The story of how Sudhir (foolishly) first wandered into Robert Taylor and had the guts to return again the next day is fascinating and defines the qualities that bring him back day after day: basic curiosity, the need to understand and plain awe at survival in the ghetto. He spends years befriending gang members, tenants and community leaders while earning his Ph.D in sociology and the book does a good job recounting his observations as well as his often-baffled inner dialogue.

This book easily kept me enthralled for the same reason the projects captured Sudhir's interest. It is dumbfounding to discover how an underground society functions, to understand how the people live in it and to see it through the eyes of a young sociologist.