Office Work and the Crack Alternative by Philippe Bourgois


1 For one it is important to remember that there is not a universal reason that people switched sectors. But the things that are discussed in the article include the increase in income due to selling drugs in contrast to working in a factory eight to ten hours a day far from their home and comfort and for only a fraction of what they could make selling. There is also the matter of a large number of those factory jobs are being exported to other countries.
2 Both of these professions are looked at in a way that suggests that those individuals that work in these professions are bad people altogether. When there is a much larger universal at hand that is being overlooked; which is that whenever, wherever there is a strong enough demand for something no matter how strange or illegal people will fill this demand. And for those people that are filling the demand it is not necessarily that they want to be doing something illegal but it is something they can do. Furthermore there is very little training required and the pay is good.
3 This article while I understand all of what it is saying I feel is inaccurate. Sure if you are packed in like sardines as the people in New York are and there are only so many jobs that people without proper training can get. But that doesn’t change the fact that we were all born a clean slate a blank canvas that can be whatever you want it to be. And any of the people that live here can find a way to do just about whatever they want if they stick to it.