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Doormen (Fieldwork Encounters and Discoveries)

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Doormen (Fieldwork Encounters and Discoveries)

By: Peter Bearman  

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Lowest New Price: $19.98
List Price: $28.00

Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5

Description:
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.
(20050525)

Publisher: University Of Chicago Press

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
SOCIOLOGY MADE READABLE - Given this book by a friend I opened it with some apprehension.
But, from the introduction to the conclusion I was hooked. A fascinating study of a particular urban species. Bearman applies academic standards, but manages to enliven it with pungent observations, one on one interviews, and very human insights. I hope he applies these same sociology and writing skills to other denizens of the city.

Customer Review: 4 out of 5
doormen - This is not the most exciting subject in the world, but Ive not ever seen a study on this subject before and the author details everything possible about doormen so its rates a 4 rating for that reason.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Doormen - This book is not the typical socillogical ethnography because it has ideas in it. But It is also full of funny stories and good quotes. You always know that the Doormen will tell it like it is. So does Bearman. If you want to learn about life in the big apple, read this book.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
doormen - This is a cool book. Students in a Sociology class conducted interviews with doormen and tenants in New York City for a class project. You learn what goes on. I grew up in one of these buildings and this book made me think about my doormen. The chapter on the bonus -- how much tenants give to the doormen for Christmas -- is great. It should be required reading for people who live in a doorman building. The chapter on sex and crime is funny. Bearman is probably right when he says that lots of tenants fantasize about their doormen. There is sociology in this book, but it doesn't get in the way of the doormen, too much.

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