General and Introduction
What is Bourgois ' main argument in this book? How does he go about making it, step by step? Is it convincing? Why?/Why not?
What is "cultural capital?" How does this concept explain the experiences of people from El Barrio-in school? at work? in business? in the legal system?
How do you think Bourgois ' ethnography balances "structure" and "agency?"
What are the functions of "street culture?"
How have other social scientists interpreted inner city culture? How does Bourgois disagree with them?
What does it mean to talk about a "survival-of-the-fittest, blame-the-victim theory of individual action" as a "common-sense?"
Chapter 1-Violating Apartheid in the United States
What do you think of Bourgois ' fieldwork strategy as compared to Chagnon and Wolf? What were the risks? How did his "informants" categorize and view Bourgois?
What does Bourgois mean by "internalizing institutionalized violence?" How do Primo and Caesar "internalize" racism and oppression?
How do the attitudes of Primo and Caesar about drugs compare to those of mainstream America and to middle class drug users?
What is the effect of the style in which this book is written?
Chapter 2-A Street History of El Barrio
What have been the different waves of immigrants who have lived in East Harlem? How would you describe a continuity in their experiences? How have they been described by outsiders? How is the poverty of East Harlem spatially segregated from mainstream America?
What is a jibaro? How has Puerto Rico, historically, been used by outside interests?
What were the reasons for the switch to cocaine in American inner cities and the subsequent development of crack?
What other underground products preceded and followed the 1980s crack boom? Why are "drugs" a particularly important commodity in marginalized areas?
How