Hermes on Two Wheels

Kevin Wehr

doi:10.5771/9780761847946

Hermes on Two Wheels

The Sociology of Bicycle Messengers

1. Auflage 2009

Kein Zugriff

doi.org/10.5771/9780761847946
ISBN print: 978-0-7618-4793-9
ISBN online: 978-0-7618-4794-6
Hamilton Books, Lanham Hamilton Books, Lanham

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Abstract

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.

Kapitel Ausklappen | EinklappenSeiten
i–viii Preface i–viii
- Table of Contents
- Preface
1–10 1. Introduction: Hermes on Two Wheels 1–10
11–30 2. Why Does Hermes Fly? 11–30
31–56 3. Risk, Edgework, and the Community of Danger 31–56
57–84 4. Visibility and Invisibility: Liminality, Anarchy, and Bike-Punk Culture 57–84
85–108 5. Bicycle Culture, Messenger Solidarity, and Community Matters 85–108
109–118 6. Conclusion: The Last Non Co-opted Punk Rock Subculture 109–118
119–124 Methodological Appendix 119–124
125–130 References 125–130
131–133 Index 131–133

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