The underpinnings of fatherhood and the role that one plays was examined throughout Bourgois Text “Selling Crack in El Barrio”. In an attempt to provide a contextual background:
A seemingly simplistic conversation opened the reader into the development of fatherhood and the males place within a hierarchal society. This then developed into a stark abstraction and intensive debate between fatherhood and one’s obligations within Puerto Rican contexts. Primo, a male in his twenties presented the notion that simply having a genetic tie to a child does not constitute fatherhood. Rather, he argues that fatherhood is dependent on a time-based environment and whoever the man is dating at the time. This ideology is furthered by Candy, a female who…show more content… The second underpinning lies within the context that conceptual foundations of fatherhood are constructed by generational means and social constructionism around the topic. Expanding upon this notion, a father is bound by similar predicaments that his father faced; for example, the abandonment of their child. Consequently, this was displayed on multiple occasions in Primo, Little Pete’s, and Ray’s conversations with “Fillepie” (Bourgois, 2002). Ergo, Bourgois displays this “player” (sleeping with large amounts of women) attitude as concentrated within the drug trade; on the contrary, one does not have to be within criminal contexts to commit to sexual relations with various women. Another flaw within the writing lies within the fact that it appears quite sexist to argue that a father (or on the contrary, a mother) must be in the picture for a child to be raised successfully, this was demonstrated on pages 298, 305, and 312 and was not consistent concerning the research findings, rather they were presented by Bourgois. Furthermore, while his text favors a nurture standpoint in the famous “Nature v. Nurture” argument, he provides limited evidence to support this claim. For example, Bourgois critically examines Primo’s relationship with his son compared to Primo’s relationship with his father. Yet, this is when…show more content… Bourgois argued “decriminalising” the drug trade would reduce the demand for the product due to a predicted decrease in price. More convincingly, the production of these drugs may lessen the cost of the drug, but would we not see an increase of overdoses within society by decriminalising the drug trade? In contrast, are we as a society willing to sacrifice safety and security for the utopian economy that Bourgois describes? Furthermore, he argued that the United States must equalize the welfare system in which aid is given and subsequently desegregate the minimum wage job market. Consequently, Bourgois fails to examine the underlying reasons that the minimum wage job market is competitive. He makes a bold accusation against the economy and fails to account for confounding factors. One of many, can be attributed to college graduates obtaining these jobs to pay off student loans due to no jobs being available in their selected
