Marginal People in Deviant Places: Ethnography, Difference, and the Challenge to Scientific Racism
Marginal People in Deviant Places: Ethnography, Difference, and the Challenge to Scientific Racism
by Janice M. Irvine
University of Michigan Press, 2022
ISBNs
Paper: 978-0-472-05538-8
eISBN: 978-0-472-90265-1 (OA)
About the Book
Marginal People in Deviant Places revisits twentieth-century ethnographic studies of deviance, arguing that ethnographies that focus on marginal subcultures—ranging from Los Angeles hoboes to men who have sex with other men in St. Louis bathrooms, to taxi dancers in Chicago, to elderly Jews in Venice, California—produce new ways of thinking about social difference more broadly in the United States. Irvine demonstrates how the social scientists who told the stories of these marginalized groups offered an early challenge to then-dominant narratives of scientific racism and then offers a social history of certain American outsiders and a prehistory of the academic fields of ethnic studies and sexuality studies. Through the stories Irvine recounts in this book, she identifies an American paradox represented in a simultaneous desire for and rejection of outsiders and describes the rise of an outsider capitalism that integrates difference into American society by marketing it.
Place plays a crucial role in this work as Irvine examines its role in shaping ethnographies about outsiders and therefore understandings of social difference. Irvine has visited the sites of each of the ethnographies about which she writes, collecting photos, videos, and archival materials that will help readers understand the importance of place in the generation of particular ethnographic stories. The open-access online edition of this book is richly illustrated to help convey the deep sense of emplacement of the ethnographies discussed in this book and includes a series of interviews with sociologists about how they conduct their work and understand their forebears.
Place plays a crucial role in this work as Irvine examines its role in shaping ethnographies about outsiders and therefore understandings of social difference. Irvine has visited the sites of each of the ethnographies about which she writes, collecting photos, videos, and archival materials that will help readers understand the importance of place in the generation of particular ethnographic stories. The open-access online edition of this book is richly illustrated to help convey the deep sense of emplacement of the ethnographies discussed in this book and includes a series of interviews with sociologists about how they conduct their work and understand their forebears.
About the Author
Janice M. Irvine is Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Reviews
“Marginal People in Deviant Places is a wonderful, smart, and multidimensional cultural history of the 20th century through the eyes of marginalized populations, and a thorough consideration of the contributions of scholars of deviance, which makes a powerful argument for the value of social scientific rather than biological understandings of deviance.”
—Arlene Stein, Rutgers University
— Arlene Stein—Arlene Stein, Rutgers University
“The book makes a compelling argument, tells a fascinating and multilayered story, and is beautifully written. The diverse subjects of the ethnographies will be of interest to specialists in a wide range of fields, including urban studies, the history and sociology of medicine, queer studies, sexuality studies, youth studies, and African American studies.”
—Andrea Friedman, Washington University in St. Louis
— Andrea Friedman—Andrea Friedman, Washington University in St. Louis
Tags
Ethnography, Subculture, Deviant behavior, Scientific Racism, Labeling theory, Ethnology, Black Studies (Global), Racism, Methodology, LGBTQ+ Studies, Gender Studies, Sociology, Social aspects, 20th century, United States, Social Science, History
Open Access Information
License: CC BY-NC-ND
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