Floating City: A Rogue Sociologist Lost and Found in New York’s Underground Economy by Sudhir Venkatesh
Reviewed by Doc
A commemorative memoir of Sudhir Venkatesh’s research in New York City, Floating City is a tale so true you’d have thought it was fiction. Previous author of Gang Leader for a Day and consultant for Levitt & Dubner’s Freakonomics, Venkatesh explored the underground economy of New York City for 10 years while he taught at Columbia. At the behest of one study subject, a crack dealer seeking to tap the higher class cocaine market, Venkatesh was advised to “float,” which I translated as “develop an attitude toward adaptation.”
Scavenged from the scraps of a potential film, the advantage of Floating City was its honesty. Venkatesh established himself as a master after his first work, Gang Leader for a Day, sparked the making of a three-part documentary. He seemed to have high hopes for Floating City to start on film, but after the filmworks fell apart, he gathered his notes and comprised the next best thing. As a result, Floating City came off a bit raw. Part of me struggled with this, but his skillful account was so transparent that I couldn’t put it down – I wanted to know about and relate to all the prostitutes, escorts, dealers, grifters, and scavengers that he knew.
Since the dawn of anthropology and social science, researchers have approached their subjects as superiors, examining them with a logical but inhuman eye. Venkatesh proved to be a rebel in this regard, being open about his presence and not hiding in the shadows to protect his image and his feelings. In some ways, he did the opposite; he laid himself bare before the population, before a community that he admired, and before you and me. We were made aware of his struggles, and his triggers were exposed as mechanisms that interfered with his ability to connect and understand.
At its core, Floating City was a demonstration of the empathic power of the human spirit. I saw it in the prostitutes who comfort Venkatesh during his divorce. I saw it in the desperation of the johns, who seem to need someone to validate their philandering and understand the support it provides them. And then, I saw it in myself as I absorbed and related to stories that reflected a common human existence, like taking money for doing something I’d rather not, or struggling for validation, security, or success.
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