The Limits of Informal Control

The Appearance That "No One Cares."

  • said to lead to the downfall of social order (visible forms of social disorder)
  • requires police (institutional) intervention into
  • serious crime follows in such circumstances
  • if a single broken window means no one cares, then people have licence to break more
  • leads to an unrelenting campaign against the forces that were said to be diminishing the QUALITY OF LIFE for conventional city dwellers*
*Crime in cities has diminished in the last four decades whether these policies were applied or not.

FOUR INDECENT BEHAVIORS (of street vendors) TARGETED:
  • public urination
  • detaining residents in conversation
  • selling stolen goods
  • sleeping on sidewalks
The Logic of the Habitat

  • about 1/3 of the men working the sidewalks sleep outside instead of in inexpensive flop houses
    • all the sustaining elements of the environment are there
    • friends are out there and he feels safe and comfortable
    • NOT a trade-off between drugs or a room
  • specific reasons
    • to save a space for vending
    • to save money
    • to use crack
Once a Person is Homeless, They are Always Homeless
  • don't want to get USED TO sleeping in a bed
  • acceptance of their condition
    • CHOICE (language used)-preserve a sense of AGENCY
    • I cant afford a room
    • the hotel is not safe
  • Do not DEFINE themselves as homeless (make distinctions)
    • I sleep in a chair working, not laid out on the street
    • I'm a vendor (not homeless)
    • entrepreneur: would be housed if it could also provide everything they need (cheap food, support system, trash, a place to earn a living)
    • not the same as some homeless (not by choice)
  • Fit the description of delinquent people
When You Gotta Go, You Gotta Go
  • No use of bathroom or restaurants (like in Penn Station) so pee in a cup
  • while hailing a cab
  • hang "private cup" on trees
  • NO PUBLIC TOILETS IN NYC!!!!!
  • dump in the dumpster
  • some pee in the street
    • a way of showing respect when you are smelly, dirty or drunk
  • go in restaurants for privacy-embarrassed-know which ones will let you
    • FOR CUSTOMERS ONLY
      • what is a customer?
        • even if they purchase, they are told the bathrooms are closed
        • if you have to go now, may not have the money to make a purchase
        • are entitled to use a bathroom at any establishment they regularly spend money, even if it isn't at that moment
Where Else can a Man Go?
  • public restrooms are filthy and in disrepair (nasty)
  • no toilet seats (because people rip them off?)
  • smell awful (not cleaned)
TALKING TO WOMEN
  • most interactions on the sidewalk are illustrative of solidarity, but some are problematic
    • entanglements
    • unreciprocated openings
    • unreciprocated closings
  • mostly a problem between poor black men and upper middle class white women
  • violate the rules or normal speech etiquette for UMC white women
  • points to differences in gendered interactions
  • reflects fears women have in racist, patriarchal society
    • the meaning of flirtations
    • how to respond to flirtations yes/no
    • how to exert agency/solidarity
  • RULES for interaction in the city:
    • have superficial contact with people without getting too involved with them
    • freedom to walk without getting ENTANGLED
    • Lessons from CA (Conversational Analysis in sociolinguistics)
      • one must be able to read CONVERSATIONAL CUES
        • curt answer means "I don't want to talk."
        • not answering means "leave me alone"
        • turning away or ignoring you means "i'm afraid or offended"
      • normally, questions evoke answers, compliments require recognition, called ADJACENCY PAIRS
      • conversational interaction entail clarification and negotiation of meaning.
        • if you get NONE of this, there is a disconnect in the conversational conventions
        • delays in responses where immediacy is normal, also indicate trouble
        • Many street vendors miss or ignore signals to disengage given by women
      • They are not stupid: employ INTERACTIONAL VANDALISM against those of higher status to make them engage
        • be visible
        • assert their agency/intelligence/masculinity
        • disavowal their lower status on the streets/emasculation
  • CLOSINGS
    • the dog: used to bring a woman into an interaction. 
    • can order the dog to come rather than engage with the woman
    • control over the dog allows one to ignore other conversational cues for ending the unwanted interaction
    • gender differences and racial differences in interactions
      • women get compliments, men don't

Theft: Where you get the books
  • book stores in the area often complain that their books are stolen by the street vendors
  • also see street vendors as unfair competition
  • some are FREE books given to publishing house employees (gray area)
    • use TECHNIQUES OF NEUTRALIZATION to justify selling books, some of which may be stolen
      • everyone does it, were just the little guy
      • under more scrutiny because i'm a black poor man
    • NORMALIZATION OF DEVIANCE
      • honestly view their actions as normal, rather than deviant
      • store has the cloak of official corporate legitimacy-otherwise NO DIFFERENCE
  • apparently, THEFT is actually part of the publishing industry
    • distributors
    • drivers
    • employees
    • other middlemen in storage, etc.
  • even though theft is "accepted" order is maintained by setting limits
    • greed (can't get greedy and go too far)
    • being obvious (makes a mockery out of the business)
    • only deal with "above board" fences that have established reputations

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