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This vivid account of hustling in New York City explores the
sociological reasons why con artists play their game and the
psychological tricks they use to win it. Terry Williams and Trevor
B. Milton, two prominent sociologists and ethnographers, spent
years with New York con artists to uncover their secrets. The
result is an unprecedented view into how con games operate, whether
in back alleys and side streets or in police precincts and Wall
Street boiler rooms. Whether it's selling bootleg goods, playing
the numbers, squatting rent-free, scamming tourists with bogus
stories, selling knockoffs on Canal Street, or crafting Ponzi
schemes, con artists use verbal persuasion, physical misdirection,
and sheer charm to convince others to do what they want. Williams
and Milton examine this act of performance art and find meaning in
its methods to exact bounty from unsuspecting tourists and ordinary
New Yorkers alike. Through their sophisticated exploration of the
personal experiences and influences that create a successful
hustler, they build a portrait of unusual emotional and
psychological depth. Their work also offers a new take on structure
and opportunity, showing how the city's unique urban and social
architecture lends itself to the perfect con.
This vivid account of hustling in New York City explores the
sociological reasons why con artists play their game and the
psychological tricks they use to win it. Terry Williams and Trevor
B. Milton, two prominent sociologists and ethnographers, spent
years with New York con artists to uncover their secrets. The
result is an unprecedented view into how con games operate, whether
in back alleys and side streets or in police precincts and Wall
Street boiler rooms. Whether it's selling bootleg goods, playing
the numbers, squatting rent-free, scamming tourists with bogus
stories, selling knockoffs on Canal Street, or crafting Ponzi
schemes, con artists use verbal persuasion, physical misdirection,
and sheer charm to convince others to do what they want. Williams
and Milton examine this act of performance art and find meaning in
its methods to exact bounty from unsuspecting tourists and ordinary
New Yorkers alike. Through their sophisticated exploration of the
personal experiences and influences that create a successful
hustler, they build a portrait of unusual emotional and
psychological depth. Their work also offers a new take on structure
and opportunity, showing how the city's unique urban and social
architecture lends itself to the perfect con.
This is a story of crime-engaged youth who have been given a second
chance. New York City teens are often faced with conditions that
lead to poor education, deprived job opportunities, and a savage
cycle of incarceration. But they are almost always faced with a
choice. Teens from deprived neighborhoods face an arduous
crossroad: should they a) walk the glamorous path of street
culture, whose unlawful codas channels them towards fast money,
instant gratification, and irretractable respect? Or b) make the
steep climb through carceral traps, structural deprivation, and
sometimes peer ridicule, in order to achieve legitimate success?
This book is also the story of the non-profit community
organizations that recognize the difficulty of this decision. To
the many that are unfamiliar with New York's poorest neighborhoods,
living a 'crime-free lifestyle' is an obvious and easy choice.
According to this thinking, those who violate our legal codes
should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, no matter the
circumstances that led to their unlawful behavior. Throughout the
city, there are a small number of alternative-to-incarceration
programs designed to give crime-engaged youth a second chance to
walk the path of legitimate success. They attempt to fill the void
left behind by a poor opportunity structure. This book is a
detailed ethnographic account of a select group of teens in New
York City, the deprived conditions they face on a daily basis, and
the alternative-to-incarceration programs that try to turn their
lives around. Included will be the accounts of teens that faced the
arduous crossroad and four programs that attempted to teach a set
of skills necessary for a crime-free lifestyle: a set of skills
that I call a social survival kit.
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