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1-Page Summary of Gang Leader For A Day
Overall Summary
Gang Leader for a Day is Sudhir Venkatesh’s account of his research in Chicago housing projects. He spent six years studying sociology at the University of Chicago, and he stumbled across the Black Kings gang early on. They were heavily involved with selling crack cocaine, so he couldn’t pass up an opportunity to learn more about how gangs operate and what role they play in their communities.
The book’s title comes from the fact that, in order to teach Venkatesh about gang life, JT appoints him leader for a day. As his research continues, however, he broadens his focus and considers Ms. Bailey’s role; the place of women in Robert Taylor Homes; the relationship between tenants and police officers; and how people hustle money in an underground economy.
In this book, Venkatesh describes his experiences with violence and kindness he witnessed while living at Robert Taylor Homes. He also writes about the people who helped him during that time. The book was written to pay tribute to those people who helped him achieve success in his academic career.
Prologue
Venkatesh wakes up at 7:30 AM in apartment 1603 of the Robert Taylor Homes, a housing project in Chicago. He lives there because he is not living with his parents; instead, he’s living on his own for the first time. The building is run by a gang known as the Black Kings and Venkatesh isn’t part of that gang but rather an outsider studying them from within their world. He leaves to visit another family on the 10th floor (Venkatesh tells us this).
Chapter 1: “How Does it Feel to be Black and Poor?”
The book begins when Sudhir Venkatesh first arrives at the University of Chicago. He is warned by his school to stay in safe areas because he lives on the edge of a poor, black neighborhood. He walks around a lot and explores different neighborhoods, especially the ones that are poorer and blacker than others. As an Indian man, he is very rare in these places but feels perfectly safe there because people don’t know what to expect from him or how to treat him.
Venkatesh then introduces the basics of sociology, explaining that sociologists usually collect data by conducting surveys and then translate those results into statistical information. This is a quantitative approach, which has been criticized for being too far removed from the reality of people’s lives. Venkatesh prefers an observational approach because he feels it provides a more intimate look at people’s lives.
Venkatesh starts college at the University of Chicago, where he meets a prominent sociologist named William Julius Wilson. Wilson asks him to join his research team on a project studying how poverty affects young black people in their neighborhoods. Venkatesh is told to design and distribute surveys, but when he does so, he realizes that he has no idea what to do next.
Venkatesh is encouraged by his new friends to speak with other black people. He goes to Washington Park, which is usually avoided by students, and meets a group of elderly African-Americans who tell him about the history of Chicago and the city’s gangs. Venkatesh learns that there are two parts of the city: one for whites and one for blacks. The men also tell him that racism will never change in America because it’s too deeply rooted in society. They encourage Venkatesh to meet more young black people so he can learn from them as well.
One day, Venkatesh is trying to find a way to get in touch with the families living in the Lake Park projects. He describes it as “a study in joyless monotony” and that the buildings are set apart from the rest of Chicago as if they were toxic. As he approaches one of these high rise apartment buildings, he sees men dealing drugs on doorways; there’s no lobby or cleanliness. When he tries to walk up a corridor looking for stairs, someone stops him and asks what he was doing there. He explained that he wanted to interview families living here but was told no one lives here because this is common practice when dealing with social workers and teachers who want access into their homes. After leaving another building after being stopped by young men gambling on landings who demand his identity, Venkatesh decides not try anymore since it’s getting late anyway so returns home only to be held hostage by these same guys for an entire night until morning when they finally let him go unharmed.
