Hustlers, Beats, And Others by Ned Polsky
Schur, Edwin
HUSTLERS, BEATS, AND OTHERS, by Ned Polsky. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company. 218 pp. $5.95. THIS COLLECTION of essays, which displays the author at work in a variety of settings, includes...
...Although he may be going a bit far in characterizing all the more conventional research approaches as "cop outs," Polsky is certainly right in suggesting that concern with quantification and reliance on research populations of jailed offenders have overwhelmed what should be a central interest for the sociologist— a qualitative understanding of the rich variety of criminal behavior...
...In each case Polsky breaks new ground...
...the deficiencies of conventional approaches to the study of crime...
...I HAVE A FEW reservations concerning minor points of interpretation...
...Each chapter discloses significant disagreement with accepted views (sociological or otherwise), and reveals the author's belief that "polemical scholarship improves the quality of intellectual life—sharpens the mind, helps get issues settled faster—by forcing genteel discussion to become genuine debate...
...The sections on poolrooms and pool hustling, informed by both long-term participant observation and historical research, undoubtedly constitute the definitive study of these interesting phenomena...
...In a devastating broadside against dominant approaches in criminology, Polsky makes an eloquent case for what he calls free-ranging study of the uncaught criminal in his natural setting...
...Considering both their general functions in the social order and more specifically the uses to which they are put by pornography consumers (i.e., as a source of masturbatory fantasies), Polsky concludes that the effort to distinguish between hard-core pornography and erotic "art" is somewhat beside the point—a conclusion which is perplexing from the policy standpoint, but which indeed may be quite sound sociologically...
...The author comes to the conclusion that poolrooms and pool playing are on the wane not because of the popular association of pool with gambling and criminals—as has sometimes been suggested —but because the poolroom served as a stronghold of "a special kind of subculture that has become increasingly rare and unimportant in America—the heterosexual but allmale subculture, which required that certain gathering places (clubs, barber shops, taverns) serve as sacrosanct refuges from women...
...Using his own experience in "getting to know a professional heavy man in his own environment" as an illustration, Polsky shows that the standard textbook emphasis on obstacles to studying serious criminal offenders in the open is misguided...
...OTHER SECTIONS of the book similarly reveal the value of a totally non-moralistic and rigorously observant rooting-out of basic social patterns...
...The other point one may question appears in the chapter on the beats...
...Successful field research requires the ability "to look at people, listen to them, think and feel with them, talk with them rather than at them...
...His book reflects throughout a genuine concern for the people he studies, and a coherent approach to the research he undertakes...
...and finally, the social functions of pornography...
...Polsky is a scholar who cares, who thinks clearly and writes well...
...Even in the updated version of this essay, Polsky sticks with his original assertion that "there is hardly a Negro alive who in his heart of hearts doesn't want to be white, and the various kinds of Negro chauvinist movements invariably represent a reaction formation against the forbidden desire to be white...
...Rather, the focus is on understanding fully the behavior and its meaning for the participants and for the social order in which it occurs...
...PoIsky's essay on the beats—already known to readers of DISSENT—was probably the first systematic social analysis of the newer forms of bohemianism...
...In his eagerness to indict conventional crime research, Polsky lashes out somewhat overbearingly against "applied sociology" (which he associates with social work impulses, adjustment psychology, 90 BOOKS and the like...
...it presents much valuable information and numerous insights into this way of life...
...pool hustling as an occupation...
...For some sociologists such a stance means no more than the selection of relevant problems, a process which need not adulterate the objectivity of the research itself, and which often has produced solid findings that effectively challenge the status quo—a result with which I'm sure Polsky is sympathetic...
...A KEY EMPHASIS in the book is on the value of seeking to understand people more or less on their own terms and of studying their behavior in its natural setting...
...Unfortunately, it is quite true that many a modern sociologist "can't see people any more, except through punched cards and one-way mirrors...
...He can't talk with people any more, only 'survey' them...
...89 BOOKS The topics Polsky deals with are the significance of pool playing and poolrooms...
...Polsky is one of the new generation of sociologists of deviance who refuse to pass any kind of judgment on deviating individuals, who disdain psychopathological and even "social pathological" explanations of offending behavior...
...It is a book that makes a contribution to sociology and the study of mass culture...
...While it is certainly true that some researchers improperly confuse their scientific and citizenly roles, I think Polsky unnecessarily downgrades the value of applied research...
...Polsky manages to be extremely readable, and several pervading themes help tie together what might otherwise have been a series of disconnected essays...
...the beats...
...he calls for a reassertion of objective value-free research in the social sciences...
...I hope I have managed to convey the liveliness of Polsky's work which, notwithstanding the_virtual absence of "political" content, should appeal greatly to DISSENT readers...
...Often he can't even talk about people any more, only about `data...
...In his chapter on pornography Polsky views this phenomenon as functional for society— the counterpart of our restrictive norms on sexual behavior, in much the same way as prostitution has been related to monogamous marriage...
...THIS COLLECTION of essays, which displays the author at work in a variety of settings, includes one piece that originally appeared in DISSENT ("The Village Beat Scene: Summer 1960"), some scholarly papers, and various other material...
...This may of course be true, but I rather doubt that Polsky knows it is true, anymore than his critics (whom, in all fairness, he quotes on this matter) know it is not true...
Vol. 15 • January 1968 • No. 1
