Transcript Chapter 4 pp. 143-173: Goin Legit : Disrespect and Resistance at Work

“Goin legit”:
Disrespect and
resistance at work
Moriessa & Sarah
What to expect
Summary (Starting @ pg 143-173)
Analysis of themes
Quiz
Skit
Getting “dissed” in the office
Primo and Caesar both experienced humiliation and insecurities in the office
Primo was a mail clerk & errand boy at a professional trade magazine and he
explains the racism he experienced at one of his jobs with his boss in which
he was unable to identify
Primo has to search up the word illiterate
Primo and Caesar’s ideas were constantly turned down and they were
discouraged to disclose their identity
The Gender Diss
Most people that work in office were women which caused a tension of
subordination to women vs Primo and Caesar (bitch & Ho)
Primo and Caesar faced economic inequality and power hierarchies
Caesar was judged by his supervisor Peggy MacNamara (Irish) for his holiday
bonuses
Primo felt as if his boss Gloria overwatched him during his shifts
Racism towards Primo vs other workers ( He seen letters written about him by
his supervisor for falling asleep)
Weapons of the Weak
Primo worked extra hard trying to complete his work on time and keep his boss
happy, he would do extra work after work hours but she always found a way
to find errors in his work
When someone like Primo was being terminated from the job the personnel
report would include, “lack of initiative , inarticulate, or no understanding of
the purpose of the company”
Primo and Caesar steal from their bosses
Theme: Kinship As An Organizing Principle
Kinship can be seen as a basic unit of human social relations. It is structured in
many different ways to define groups and the differences between them.
Kinship groups are not static units but define fields of relationship and
meaning through which economic and political processes occur.
1. Globalization
2. Gender Relations
3. Family and household
“Fly Clothes” and Symbolic Power
● Not all forms of resistance to marginal legal employment are instrumental and
practical as previous examples.
○ Marginal employment: Marginal employment is a circumstance in which an employment relationship is
not earning an employee enough money to make a decent living and/or when the employee is failing to meet
the expectations of the company or employer. Marginal employment affects employees, their families and the
companies that employ them. -http://www.ehow.com/
■
Employment relationship: Employee relations refer to the relationship shared among the employees in an
organization. The employees must be comfortable with each other for a healthy environment at work. It is the prime
duty of the superiors and team leaders to discourage conflicts in the team and encourage a healthy relationship
among employees.
● The unwillingness to compromise one’s street identity is a refusal to accept
marginalization in the mainstream professional world.
“Fly Clothes” and Symbolic Power
Although two different situations both Caesar and Primo felt humiliated in the
legal employment office.
“Motivational training” employment program
Caesar humiliated by his “inappropriate wardrobe”
Bourgois personally thought that the program was much better than the
treatment in the game room.
Primo’s experience(called a hoodlum)
The problem wasn’t the lack of money but the racism which was expressed
through wardrobe and body language
Unionized Travesties: Racism and racketeering
Racketeering: often associated with organized crime, is the act of offering of a
dishonest service
Travesty: mock/parody
Isolating oneself in street culture can remove any danger of having to face
humiliation when one leaves their social circle (legal jobs)
Yet there is an awareness that these legal jobs are a positive alternative to the drug economy
Crack collaborated with the racist labor market and Caesar's personal
vulnerabilities, keeping him from having to face his structural exclusion
The new Immigrant Alternative
Union employment is still the ideal job, despite the negative experiences many
have had.
Primo’s experience
Primo and Caesar both channel their anger toward the immigrants for the lack
of job opportunities.
This resulted in a phase which began to reconstruct New York’s economy
Since the Mexicans are inexpensive for work, well pais FIRE sectors often hire
them over native born North Americans
But the new immigrants also suffer from racism
The Bicultural Alternative : Upward mobility or betrayal
The primary hope for upward mobility lies in the expansion of FIRE sector’s
needs for office support workers
But for success in the FIRE sector one must be bicultural
But for those like Leroy(having black skin) bicultural alternative is not an option.
Leroy’s experience
Theme: Individuals, groups and societies
Status and role
Social and group identity
Conformity and non conformity