Description
Book SynopsisIn Urban Flow, Jeffrey L. Kidder introduces readers to the fascinating subculture of bike messengers, exploring its appeal as well as its uncertainties and dangers.
Trade ReviewUrban Flow is a view of the cool urban culture that messengers have grown on the barren soil of the service economy, and reverberates with cycling's visceral pleasure.
* American Journal of Sociology *
Urban Flow's principle contribution is a call to sociologists of culture to more thoroughly examine emotions, space, and the relationship between the two; emotions are emplaced, and physical structures significantly shape interaction. Through what Kidder calls the 'affective appropriation of space' messengers resist the conformist, rationalized world of the city, affording moments, however small, of creativity and liberation.
-- Ross Haenfler * Qualitative Sociology *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Lure of Delivery
1. The Job
2. The Lifestyle
3. Men's Work and Dirty Work
4. Playing in Traffi
5. The Deep Play of Alleycats
6. The Aff ective Appropriation of Space
7. The Meaning of Messenger Style
Conclusion: The Politics of Appropriation
