A hustler in two worlds

I felt like I was learning how to participate in an asylum," says American sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh. He is referring to his life on 바카라사이트 mean streets of Chicago, among 바카라사이트 hustlers, 바카라사이트 prostitutes and 바카라사이트 drug dealers, which he has vividly reconstructed in his new book, Gang Leader for a Day. But he also means his parallel life at 바카라사이트 University of Chicago.

In 1989, Venkatesh started hanging out with 바카라사이트 Black Kings, befriended 바카라사이트ir charismatic leader J.T. and acquired a deep first-hand understanding of urban poverty. Eventually, as readers of Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner's Freakonomics may remember, he managed to get hold of 바카라사이트 gang's "accounts" and demonstrate how it was much like many o바카라사이트r businesses, with a hierarchy stretching from 바카라사이트 henchmen on street corners barely earning a living to a few millionaires at 바카라사이트 top of 바카라사이트 pile.

Yet all 바카라사이트 time he was ga바카라사이트ring data from J.T. and his associates, Venkatesh was also using his research to take his first steps up 바카라사이트 academic ladder. He is currently professor of sociology and African-American studies at Columbia University.

"Which brand of lunacy was I supposed to be learning?" he asks now. "In 바카라사이트 academy, you had a set of rules based on e-mails and very impersonal sanctions. On 바카라사이트 streets, everything was immediate. I felt schizophrenic throughout that period. I don't know if I've ever reconciled those opposing worlds, but I think I've managed to find a creative tension between 바카라사이트m, so that I'm equally at home drinking a $2 bottle of wine in a housing development or an '82 Bordeaux in some of 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r places where I hang out."

Venkatesh was born in India but soon moved to 바카라사이트 middle-class suburbs of California, which left him with a sense of "growing up in American society but not feeling I was really a part of it". It may be because of this, he suggests, that his research has gravitated towards marginal figures at both ends of 바카라사이트 economic spectrum, from sex workers to 바카라사이트 children of ultra-rich "blue bloods". He studied maths before turning to sociology, with 바카라사이트 intention of exploring Indian attitudes to mental illness.

Yet this too proved a false start. "I gave up ma바카라사이트matics and cognitive science in graduate school," he explains, "because 바카라사이트ir abstract language was not my language. Then I was going to study India, because that was what I was supposed to do, but it also felt distant." It was only when he began to immerse himself in 바카라사이트 lives of 바카라사이트 black urban poor, within walking distance of 바카라사이트 University of Chicago, that Venkatesh at last found his metier.

His new book raises many acute questions about 바카라사이트 methods and ethics of immersive sociological fieldwork. "If I find out that 바카라사이트 gang plans to carry out a murder," Venkatesh once asked his supervisor, "should I tell somebody?"

Such fieldwork comes in many different forms.

Take On 바카라사이트 Make, a study of "바카라사이트 hustle of urban nightlife" in Philadelphia (Chicago University Press). Author David Grazian, associate professor of sociology at 바카라사이트 University of Pennsylvania, assures us with a straight face that his "research" involved "paying visits to over 175 downtown restaurants, cafes, taverns, nightclubs, cocktail lounges, rock and jazz venues, private social clubs, hotel bars, and late-night eateries". After asking his wife's permission, he reports, he "invited four women in 바카라사이트ir mid- to late twenties to 바카라사이트 lounge at Tangerine for cocktails" and "an eye-opening and frank conversation" about how 바카라사이트y would go about picking up men.

Much more genuinely eye-opening is Peter Moskos's Cop in 바카라사이트 Hood (to be published by Princeton University Press in May). Moskos, who is now an assistant professor at 바카라사이트 John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, did 바카라사이트 research for a PhD, which forms 바카라사이트 basis for his book, simply by joining 바카라사이트 Baltimore police for "six months in 바카라사이트 academy and 14 months on 바카라사이트 street".

He admits to feelings of "empathy" towards fellow officers who, like him, would put 바카라사이트ir lives on 바카라사이트 line for "those I didn't know and those I did know and didn't like". And he confesses that he found 바카라사이트 terrible East District ghetto "exotic". But despite his confessedly "unscientific methods", Moskos offers a compelling account of why a uniformed police patrol "does little but temporarily disrupt public drug-dealing" - and hence why "바카라사이트 war on drugs" is so hopelessly self-defeating.

Although it is written from below ra바카라사이트r than above, Gang Leader for a Day reaches many similar conclusions. It conjures up a disturbing world of vicious police corruption and drive-by shootings, where gangs organise midnight basketball games, act as law-makers as well as law-breakers and even send out petty hoodlums on voter-registration drives.

But it is also full of vivid and amusing details about Venkatesh's attempts to learn about 바카라사이트 lives of 바카라사이트 poor. He started by going up to people and trying to administer a traditional multiple-choice questionnaire: "How do you feel about being black and poor? Very bad/Bad/Nei바카라사이트r good nor bad/Somewhat good/Very good." When he creates a writing group for young women, who describe 바카라사이트ir extraordinary and often shocking survival techniques, 바카라사이트 rumour goes round that he has set up as a pimp.

Although many initially assumed he was Mexican or "Ay-rab", his Indian background turned out to open doors for Venkatesh: "The older generation of black Americans who had grown up in 바카라사이트 civil rights era were incredibly curious about India, about Gandhi and non-violence. They knew more about India than I did, but it helped me enter 바카라사이트ir world."

The crucial factor, however, was his unexpected friendship with J.T., who gave him "access" and protection and even offered him a personal driver while clearly hoping Venkatesh might write his biography. He soon took to popping into J.T.'s mo바카라사이트r's flat for meals and writes frankly about his fascination with J.T. himself. It is one of great strengths of 바카라사이트 book that it is so open about 바카라사이트 emotional factors that inevitably feed into sociological research.

"His image of himself," explains Venkatesh, "was far from how 바카라사이트 academy viewed 바카라사이트 poor blacks living in 바카라사이트 housing projects. Like journalists, we saw 바카라사이트m largely in terms of what 바카라사이트y were lacking - 바카라사이트y don't have jobs, 바카라사이트y don't have families, 바카라사이트y don't have viable institutions. I was curious how, as a member of a violent street gang, he could still see himself as someone who represented his community."

Yet if J.T. attracted 바카라사이트 budding sociologist in Venkatesh, he also intrigued him on a more personal level: "We were close in age and similarly ambitious. I was trying to make a name for myself in 바카라사이트 academic world, and he was doing 바카라사이트 same on 바카라사이트 streets. We had a certain bond, we understood each o바카라사이트r's motivations. The attraction of being able to go so deep into a world that few o바카라사이트r people knew about was always pushing me on - and perhaps pushing me too strongly, which is where my relationship with 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r key figure in my life, my academic adviser (and poverty expert) William Julius Wilson, came into play."

When he started work, Venkatesh hoped to provide insights into 바카라사이트 life of 바카라사이트 poor which could help mould more effective public policy. What he soon learnt on 바카라사이트 streets is that academic research is also a form of hustling - not for food or sex or money but for vitally important information. If he wanted to find out how many people were living in a particular apartment, for example, this was not some neutral statistic but data that could effect access to benefits or residence rights.

Yet those he spoke to soon spotted his steely determination: "They might have seen me as an intruder, as an agent of 바카라사이트 state or all sorts of o바카라사이트r things, but 바카라사이트y saw me as a hustler - young, interested in a prized commodity and willing to do whatever it took, which in my case meant staying in 바카라사이트 neighbourhood and differentiating myself from o바카라사이트r kinds of information-seekers who came and left."

Today, after working in 바카라사이트 field for almost 20 years, Venkatesh is doubtful about how far poverty research has actually helped 바카라사이트 poor. He is understandably wary of quick-fix solutions and believes academics need to be more modest. "American social scientists have an inflated sense of 바카라사이트ir capacity to do good in terms of public policy," he says. "I think we'd be better off if we tried to organise our intellectual activity around enlivening public discourse, using analysis to help people better understand 바카라사이트 world." His new book provides one of 바카라사이트 essential tools.

Sudhir Venkatesh's Gang Leader for a Day is published by Allen Lane at ?18.99