Invisible in Austin: Life and Labor in an American City - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1477303642 ISBN 13: 9781477303641

Publisher: University of Texas Press, 2015

Synopsis

Austin, Texas, is renowned as a high-tech, fast-growing city for the young and creative, a cool place to live, and the scene of internationally famous events such as SXSW and Formula 1. But as in many American cities, poverty and penury are booming along with wealth and material abundance in contemporary Austin. Rich and poor residents lead increasingly separate lives as growing socioeconomic inequality underscores residential, class, racial, and ethnic segregation. In Invisible in Austin, the award-winning sociologist Javier Auyero and a team of graduate students explore the lives of those working at the bottom of the social order: house cleaners, office-machine repairers, cab drivers, restaurant cooks and dishwashers, exotic dancers, musicians, and roofers, among others. Recounting their subjects' life stories with empathy and sociological insight, the authors show us how these lives are driven by a complex mix of individual and social forces. These poignant stories compel us to see how poor people who provide indispensable services for all city residents struggle daily with substandard housing, inadequate public services and schools, and environmental risks. Timely and essential reading, Invisible in Austin makes visible the growing gap between rich and poor that is reconfiguring the cityscape of one of America's most dynamic places, as low-wage workers are forced to the social and symbolic margins.

About this title

Review

"...serves as a testament to the value, continued relevance, and vital results of the application of the sociological imagination in efforts to better understand in context the diverse array of human lives that keep a metropolis humming, as well as a reminder of the costs to those who are pushed to the side as cities pursue economic development and experience rapid change. " * Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare * "These intimate, uniformly affecting profiles reveal how thoroughly Texas's historic disregard for fair labor practices and basic social services pervades the lives of today's working poor." * Texas Monthly * "Engaging and accessible, the essays dovetail with today's debates on social inequality and immigration. A scholarly study conducted with dignity and thoroughness." * Kirkus Reviews * "Sociologist Auyero and his graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin deliver exceptional in-depth longitudinal studies of 11 people living in precarious social and economic conditions in their city...Lucid and empathetic, these insightful portraits reveal how life histories are intertwined with political and economic forces beyond any individual's control." * Publishers Weekly, starred review *

About the Author

Javier Auyero is the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Professor in Latin American Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin, where he directs the Urban Ethnography Lab. He is the author of five previous books, including the award-winning Flammable: Environmental Suffering in an Argentine Shantytown (with Debora Swistun).

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1477303642
• ISBN 13: 9781477303641
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 280
• Editor: Auyero Javier