In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio

Philippe Bourgois says early on that he was forced into crack based on his need for inexpensive housing when he decided to research the underground economy in East Harlem. Even though his friends and family thought he was mad, he wanted to write about—and immerse himself in—the poverty and segregation that had amassed in what is known as El Barrio or East Harlem, in the state of New York, the most expensive city in the world at the time. Although he wanted his research to involve the drug trade, he initially had a wider subject that included other facets of the underground market like licensed betting and drug culture. When Bourgois first hit the streets of East Harlem, mainstream society didn’t know what cocaine was, as it was relatively new and not accessible on the mass market. When it was transformed into the more accessible form known as "crack" and sold, especially to the underprivileged who didn’t have access to more expensive drugs, cocaine became infamous. Bourgois goes on to say that heroin, which had once lost a lot of its market share to do crack’s inexpensiveness, has begun to regain attraction now by cutting prices, thereby adding heroin to the dealer’s market of crack and cocaine in East Harlem.

In the section titled “The Underground Economy,” Bourgois delves into what he sees at the heart of the neighborhood’s problem; namely, that drugs and substance abuse as witnessed in East Harlem are really symptomatic of something larger. Bourgois thinks these ills are "a symptom […] of social marginalization and alienation"(2), with East Harlem and the less fortunate being cut-off from the larger state of New York and the legal world due to issues like race. He turns to a large number of statistics to paint a harrowing picture of El Barrio. Although statistics and public opinion paint East Harlem’s residents as hopeless and homeless, Bourgois manages to show that his neighbors are, for the most part, healthy and not homeless. He also addresses a common mentality in that his neighbors who do sell drugs don’t see the logic in commuting downtown to work minimum wage when they can sell drugs close to home and keep what they make.

Bourgois turns to census reporting to shed possible light on the underground economy. He notes that census data tends to capture households and not individuals, who can be living illegally in households. When these households declare little or no wages, it can skew the numbers. The problem is that census reports don’t reflect the complete number of people living in a household or important factors like households living off of retirement. The census reports also underscore the fact that many of the households, although not showing a wage or salary, rely on the underground economy—which isn’t taxed—to survive.

In “Street Culture: Resistance and Self Destruction,” Bourgois shows how street culture is particularly important to many residents involved in the underground economy. Street culture has sprung up as a venue for regaining and retaining personal dignity, and at its heart, is a culture born from "opposition" (8) to the mainstream. Bourgois admits that even though street culture is a reaction against the mainstream, seeking to stymie racism and self-doubt, street culture also fosters these troubling issues, thereby making itself an active player in the destruction of community. He also points out that even though street culture and violence are rampant in his neighborhood, as is the underground economy, most of the residents of El Barrio are not involved in the drug trade. The people he profiles in the book are a small minority, yet their stories are symbolic of a global plight. Particularly, these drug dealers admittedly offer an attractive alternative to alienated youth who deem the streets their home. The minority of drug dealers profiled are indicative of other vulnerable populations where structural change and oppression, both politically and ideologically, make residents suffer.