Abstract
I have been conducting ethnographic research on crime for two decades. My fieldwork is most often situated in urban neighborhoods—disproportionately among the poor, but occasionally with the middle and upper classes. As an ethnographer, I need individuals to trust me enough to provide truthful information over an extended period of time. My observation will last at least 2 years, so I’m depending on a high level of commitment from my research subjects.
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Notes
- 1.
For an interesting discussion of human subjects protection in the Internet age, see Bassett, E. H., & O’Riordan, K. (2002). Ethics of Internet research: Contesting the human subjects research model. Ethics and Information Technology, 4(3), 233–247.
- 2.
A number of ethnographers have examined the relationship to the criminal in great detail. See Bourgois, P. (2003). In search of respect: Selling crack in El Barrio (Vol. 10). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press; Goffman, A. (2009). On the run: Wanted men in a Philadelphia ghetto. American Sociological Review, 74(3), 339–357. See also Venkatesh, S. (2013). Underground markets as fields in transition: Sex work in New York City. Sociological Forum, 28(4), 682–699.
- 3.
Burt, R. S. (2009). Structural holes: The social structure of competition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; Burt, R. S. (2001). Structural holes versus network closure as social capital. In Social capital: Theory and research (pp. 31–56).
- 4.
For another discussion of brokerage, see Pattillo, M. (2008). Black on the block: The politics of race and class in the city. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
- 5.
Katz, J. (2008). Seductions of crime: Moral and sensual attractions in doing evil (p. 112). New York, NY: Basic Books.
- 6.
As I begin to learn more about his world, I threaten Michael’s capacity to bridge the structural hole. For a broader discussion, see Moody, J., & White, D. R. (2003). Structural cohesion and embeddedness: A hierarchical concept of social groups. American Sociological Review 68, 103–127.
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Venkatesh, S. (2015). Why Criminals Tell Us the Truth. In: Maltz, M., Rice, S. (eds) Envisioning Criminology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15868-6_6
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