Hermes on Two Wheels
The Sociology of Bicycle Messengers
Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Sociology, Urban, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy
| Author: | Kevin Wehr | ISBN: | 9780761847946 |
| Publisher: | UPA | Publication: | September 28, 2009 |
| Imprint: | UPA | Language: | English |
| Author: | Kevin Wehr |
| ISBN: | 9780761847946 |
| Publisher: | UPA |
| Publication: | September 28, 2009 |
| Imprint: | UPA |
| Language: | English |
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.
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.
