Yes,“vocabularies of motives”and action should be analytically separate, butWacquant’s scathing dismissal of Duneier’s“Kodak moments,”reacts much too far in theopposite direction.
Duneier and Wacquant's debate could not reach a happy medium, they were both countering eachother at total extremes.
drawn to the potential for making positive images of these destitute men
sociologists are drawn sometimes to portray their research subjects positively, since they have gotten to know them. This brings to question credibility and bias.
Without this recognition (tacit or spoken) from other residents of the valueof their work, they would have found it much harder to shout back when peoplecomplained of the noise, or to generally assert themselves in neighborhood spaces asworkers rather than public nuisances
relations and connections within the neighborhood where they recycled built up the recyclers courage and sense of belonging.
it seemed to me that this approval was an expression ofgratitude for what the“clean”recyclers represented on a symbolic level
"clean" recyclers received high degree of respect from others because they improved the general reputation.
addicted to illegal drugs or alcohol
addressing negativities, unlike duneier
own thing
pride in feeling self employed
masculinity
you’re working foryourself, so you don’thavetofeellikesomeone’s getting rich off you
more gratifying work
panhandling
paired with recycling, status associations
Sometimes,I see someone I know from before, before the street, you know. That can be awkward, butthen I say to myself, if you ain’t here, you ain’t got no idea.
how people from their past can perceive their status
pleasure in the wor
they enjoy their labor, it is self satisying, they feel like they are giving back to the earth while earning money.
bricoleurs
handymen
While recycling could be made to fit certain masculinities, it seemed torepulse women with mainstream conceptions of femininity
A woman's position according to society is not within this profession. She experiences it only through being with a male. Just another job that "women can't do"
“serious”or“pro”recyclers, rather than themore bricoleur-like“casuals.”
achieved status
recycling centers were each buying
where does the money come from? federal?
Thehomeless men unload their towers of bottles and cardboard while young Latino vanrecyclers shout jokes across them. Middle-aged Vietnamese women in jeans and paddedjackets buzz around on forklifts or push around great tubs full of bottles and cans, stoppingoccasionally to help elderly people with their laundry carts. The van recyclers repeatedlyhonk their horns at the homeless people to get out of the way. The shopping-cart recyclers,silently methodical in all their work, ignore them, asserting their own rights to the space.
the industry functions with ethnically based classes
the“pros’”pride in their recycling prowess
master status
there is a large overlap between homeless wage earners and daylaborers—many, perhaps most, homeless wage earners seem to work by the day, and manyday laborers are homeless or marginally housed
overlap that Duneier ignored