| Hermes on Two Wheels: The Sociology of Bicycle Messengers Contributor(s): Wehr, Kevin (Author) |
|
 |
ISBN: 0761847936 ISBN-13: 9780761847939 Publisher: University Press of America OUR PRICE: $48.50 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: September 2009 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Sociology - Urban - Political Science | Labor & Industrial Relations |
| Dewey: 306.36 |
| LCCN: 2009930809 |
| Physical Information: 0.6" H x 5.9" W x 8.9" (0.50 lbs) 142 pages |
| Themes: - Demographic Orientation - Urban |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Hermes on Two Wheels shows the dynamic world of the bicycle messenger through a sociological lens, based on a five-year participant observation study. Beginning with the experiences of messengers themselves and moving to describe the structural settings of those experiences, the research shows how messengers work within a political-economic system that devalues semi-skilled labor and strips people of emotional fulfillment. The voluntary risk-taking of messengers becomes a means of achieving such emotional fulfillment as well as making a living, while their stylistic expressions pay dividends in cultural scrip rather than money. Through their work, messengers help to reproduce and maintain the structures of society while also constructing a vibrant, rebellious, politicized subculture that has come to represent the new urban hipster, an image continually under threat of co-optation. |