Everyday, people walk past street vendors in New York City without even noticing that the vendors exist. How many people stop and think about these street vendors and understand what their lives are all about? Mitchell Duneier explores the social world of street vending, and he conveys the complexity of urban life and the “sidewalk”.
Before reading this article I believed that all street vendors lived a simple life. I thought that the average vendor was a homeless person who worked individually and competed against other vendors at his or her own stand on the sidewalk in order to survive and to try to make the best living possible. Through personal experiences, numerous interviews, and research on sidewalk life, Duneier illustrated that sidewalk life is very complex and that my assumptions were completely wrong. Duneier observed that sidewalk life is crucial in urban areas and that the sidewalk is the place where a sense of mutual support must be felt between vendors if they are going to successfully live together. I also found out that vendors are very often mistreated by the police. Duneier revealed that police throw vendors’ merchandise, clothes, tables, and other belongings into the trash when the vendors leave their stands. Vendors depend on one another for social support, and they look out for each other’s best interests. This article completely changed my viewpoint of urban street vending. I now know that street vendors are individuals who work together to survive in a larger society, the “sidewalk”. One way to get a true sense of what vendors go through may be to do what Duneier did, and become a vendor yourself.
C Laber Soc 101
