Mitchell Duneier’s Sidewalk studies the New York City streets to investigate how this colossal urban area functions through the viewpoint of its infamous street vendors. This street vending, while a familiar concept, is also ill-reputed and actually considered an informal economy. Duneier examines the ways in which these vendors make a living in street conditions and attempts to identify how they ended up on the streets to begin with. Sidewalks sheds light on the life of these street vendors from their day to day, to their greater struggles in this tumultuous lifestyle. Throughout their efforts to make a living on the streets, the sidewalk residents encounter both personal and financial challenges. Amid the topics presented, race, class and
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In Sidewalk specifically, we speak of an informal economy. Despite its lack of traditional principles such as those of a capitalist economy, the informal economy of street vending still embodies an effective economic infrastructure. An example of this can be seen in the existence of a workflow that assigns designated positions to chosen individuals. These positions on the sidewalk include placeholders, which charge for saving optimal places on the sidewalk, table watchers, which monitor the tables when the owner is absent, and movers, who do just what their title says: they move the tables and products for a price. An interesting thing to note is all these actors of the informal economy use traditional business language such as referring to their customers as ‘clients’. Duneier also draws a parallel between vendors and entrepreneurs, stating that they are similar in that they both participate in legitimate and profitable pursuits when they are not subject to the confines of a corporation. A vendor, just like an entrepreneur is not bound by routine or command from a hierarchy. Instead, they are entirely independent in their pursuits. When presented in this way, we can see beyond the negative notions created of these people and rather, recognize them as ambitious entrepreneurs with an unconventional occupation. Therefore, because there exists a legitimate structure of this economy that most street vendor adhere to, we can’t just label this economy as worthless. Instead, we must view it as an alternative to what we are used
In Sidewalk specifically, we speak of an informal economy. Despite its lack of traditional principles such as those of a capitalist economy, the informal economy of street vending still embodies an effective economic infrastructure. An example of this can be seen in the existence of a workflow that assigns designated positions to chosen individuals. These positions on the sidewalk include placeholders, which charge for saving optimal places on the sidewalk, table watchers, which monitor the tables when the owner is absent, and movers, who do just what their title says: they move the tables and products for a price. An interesting thing to note is all these actors of the informal economy use traditional business language such as referring to their customers as ‘clients’. Duneier also draws a parallel between vendors and entrepreneurs, stating that they are similar in that they both participate in legitimate and profitable pursuits when they are not subject to the confines of a corporation. A vendor, just like an entrepreneur is not bound by routine or command from a hierarchy. Instead, they are entirely independent in their pursuits. When presented in this way, we can see beyond the negative notions created of these people and rather, recognize them as ambitious entrepreneurs with an unconventional occupation. Therefore, because there exists a legitimate structure of this economy that most street vendor adhere to, we can’t just label this economy as worthless. Instead, we must view it as an alternative to what we are used