Doormen by Peter Bearman
Little fascinates New Yorkers more than doormen, who know far more about tenants than tenants know about them. Doormen know what their tenants eat, what kind of movies they watch, whom they spend time with, whether they drink too much, and whether they have kinky sex. But if doormen are unusually familiar with their tenants, they are also socially very distant. In "Doormen," Peter Bearman untangles this unusual dynamic to reveal the many ways that tenants and doormen negotiate their complex relationship. Combining observation, interviews, and survey information, "Doormen" provides a deep and enduring ethnography of the occupational role of doormen, the dynamics of the residential lobby, and the mundane features of highly consequential social exchanges between doormen and tenants. Here, Bearman explains why doormen find their jobs both boring and stressful, why tenants feel anxious about how much of a Christmas bonus their neighbors give, and how everyday transactions small and large affect tenants' professional and informal relationships with doormen. In the daily life of the doorman resides the profound, and this book provides a brilliant account of how tenants and doormen interact within the complex world of the lobby.
"With Doormen, Peter Bearman emerges as one the most original and dazzling chroniclers of urban society todayIn this exceptionally readable book, he shows that everyday urban settings and workers are as interesting as the housing projects, street-corner men, and crack dealers that are the standard topics of contemporary urban studies." - Mitchell Duneier, author of Sidewalk and Slim's Table"
Peter Bearman is chair of the Department of Sociology and director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy at Columbia University.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780226039701 |
| ISBN 10 | 0226039706 |
| Title | Doormen |
| Author | Peter Bearman |
| Series | Fieldwork Encounters And Discoveries |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | University Of Chicago Press |
| Year published | 2005-10-01 |
| Number of pages | 296 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |