The story revolves around Phillippe's experience of poverty and ethnic segregation in New York, one of the most expensive cities in the world. Phillippe is a university professor who leaves for the El Barrio neighborhood of East Harlem to research and write a book about his experience of poverty and racial segregation, hence the birth of the book entitled "In Search of Respect". Its aim is to make mainstream society understand the problems of urban centres. The book mainly revolves around the daily activities of crack dealers in the El Barrio neighborhood. Phillippe specifies that the book does not talk about crack or drugs but rather states that drugs in urban centers are a "symptom" of marginalization and social alienation. The social and economic challenges that the inhabitants of El Barrio face are not only the product of their actions but also of a broader set of events and the structural framework of which they are part. Indeed, Phillippe argues that the sale of drugs and the involvement of locals in clandestine economic activities have allowed them to access basic necessities that the poor would not have been able to access if it were not for these crimes. Upon arriving in El Barrio in 1985, Phillippe noted that there was no crack cocaine in the area, but over time the method of preparing the drug was adopted by the locals. In the book, Phillippe mainly focuses on the black economy which is the most popular technique that locals use to earn a living. From conversations with drug dealers, it is clear that most of these people have resorted to selling and abusing drugs after being frustrated in achieving their dreams through legal means. Involvement in dealing and using drugs may be due to a lack of education or legal documents needed to run a legal business. Immigrants began working in factories as early as twelve years old. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay From the 1950s to the 1980s Puerto Ricans were trapped in the most vulnerable niche of the factory-based economy that was quickly replaced by service industries. This led to fewer factory jobs and the people who worked in these factories had to find a way to survive. The story is fascinating as we travel into the minds of drug dealers, explore the dynamics of street culture, get first-hand insight into the racism, violence, economic marginalization, police brutality, lack of cultural capital and stereotypes that revolve around to life in the ghettos. like El Barrio. These themes help us familiarize ourselves with life in El Barrio and understand the struggles that locals face on a daily basis, thus explaining urban poverty. Themes Violence is highly observed from scene to scene in this text. According to Primo (manager of the crack house Game Room) and Caesar (Primo's sentry), it is important to be bad or perform acts that could be considered self-destructive to avoid the locals "testing" you. Respect and loyalty are strengthened by fear as once the community fears you, there are more chances of encountering minor problems while carrying out your daily activities. Ray, the owner of a crack house network, uses violence to prevent his employees or business associates from robbing him. In Phillippe's words, “upward mobility requires systematic and effective use of violence against everyone, including oneself.” For example, Ray publicly threatens theprofessor for exposing his weakness of being illiterate in one of their initial interactions. The professor did not know that Ray could not read and did not intend to embarrass him in front of his employees and the consequence of this action was that he was banned from being seen at any crack house for several months. The term "juice" is used to refer to street respect and Ray had a lot of it to be able to successfully run his operations. According to Primo, Ray and Luis allegedly beat up an old man and raped him. From a certain point of view one might think that the act reflects homosexuality on Ray's part, but from another point of view, rape is about giving power and in this case it could signify Ray's overall masculinity. In a separate episode in the text we observe that Ray was thinking about hiring of the assassins for Luis instead of paying his lawyer despite the fact that it would have cost him the same amount of money as the lawyer asked for $3,000. The police are also no strangers when it comes to dealing with the inhabitants of El Barrio. author describes some of his interactions with the police. In some cases he tried to be honest and polite when speaking to the police, but this resulted in public humiliation, verbal attacks and threats. identity and to include “sir-officer” in his short answers to handle situations smoothly. During his time in El Barrio, the author witnessed numerous acts of violence including shootings, firebombings, fights, robberies, and police brutality. Phillippe realized that people in the neighborhood interacted based mostly on racial profiling and stereotypes, so he had to play with people's assumptions as it was difficult to convince them of the truth. Most of the characters in the book appear racist and this is evident as Phillippe initially had difficulty establishing contact with drug dealers. Since he was white, most people thought he was an undercover cop, and police assumed he was a drug addict due to his emaciated body. From the text we understand that African American interactions with Puerto Ricans were often hostile as the two racial groups hated each other. Caesar says extremely racist words when talking about blacks because a black person killed his sister. Caesar admits that at one point in his life he wanted to be black mainly because they were cool, and most of the underground economy is influenced by black culture, but later came to despise them and stated that he would kill them. He also tells Phillippe that he also hated white people and would kill them too. The only reason he wouldn't kill the perpetrator was because he was nice and because he interacted well with drug dealers. Phillippe reports that people who saw him in the neighborhood thought he was lost, and some advised him to move to areas like Queens that were more suited to people of his race. Phillippe's friends advised him to leave El Barrio, some even accused him of dragging his family to the area. The author reports that he lost some friends from mainstream society after moving to the Puerto Rican neighborhood because they thought it was reckless behavior. Another theme of the book is the lack of cultural capital. Cultural capital refers to the social resources that an individual possesses. Resources include intellect, education, as well as style of dress and speech which collectively contribute to an individual's upward mobility in a stratified society. In the text we observe that most immigrant Puerto Ricans worked in factories from a young age, which.