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Harlem Pimps’ Accounts of Their Economic Pathways and Feelings of Insiderness and Outsiderness

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Abstract

This study analyzes semi-structured interviews with 85 pimps in New York City to explore how pimps discuss their economic pathways-i.e., how their pimping leads to distinct types of work outcomes and how they discuss their associated feelings and attitudes. We compare younger (18-23) to older (24-67) pimps, anticipating that younger participants would be more adaptive and produce discourse less entrenched in outsider thinking. Pimps' movements between licit and illicit work worlds mirror those of drifters (Matza, 1964) and align with Murphy and Robinson's (2008) concept of maximizers (i.e., economically benefiting from both work worlds simultaneously). Younger pimps, despite their at-risk status, boast of several distinct advantages in moving between worlds, such as flexibility and technological savvy. How pimps' experiences in both worlds connect to insider (mainstream orientation) or outsider discourse (oppositional orientation) is also examined. Many older pimps who identify as 'hustlers' express oppositional discourse that aligns with Sandberg's (2009) 'gangster' discourse. Those pimping to survive tend to express 'oppression' discourse. Despite their at-risk statuses, many younger pimps demonstrate a hybrid (insider/outsider) orientation, which is one of versatility where participants describe an ability to master both illicit and licit worlds or at least maximize their opportunities by participating in both worlds. https://www.jqcjc.org/documents/v7i3.pdf#page=69
JQCJC VOLUME 7 ISSUE 3 (SPRING 2019)
HARLEM PIMPS’ ACCOUNTS OF THEIR ECONOMIC PATHWAYS
AND FEELINGS OF INSIDERNESS AND OUTSIDERNESS
Amber Horning
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Christopher Thomas
CUNY Graduate Center/John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Sara Jordenö
Rhode Island School of Design
Abstract
This study analyzes semi-structured interviews with 85 pimps in New York City to
explore how pimps discuss their economic pathways – i.e., how their pimping leads to
distinct types of work outcomes and how they discuss their associated feelings and
attitudes. We compare younger (18-23) to older (24-67) pimps, anticipating that younger
participants would be more adaptive and produce discourse less entrenched in outsider
thinking. Pimps’ movements between licit and illicit work worlds mirror those of drifters
(Matza, 1964) and align with Murphy and Robinson’s (2008) concept of maximizers (i.e.,
economically benefiting from both work worlds simultaneously). Younger pimps, despite
their at-risk status, boast of several distinct advantages in moving between worlds, such
as flexibility and technological savvy. How pimps’ experiences in both worlds connect to
insider (mainstream orientation) or outsider discourse (oppositional orientation) is also
examined. Many older pimps who identify as ‘hustlers’ express oppositional discourse
that aligns with Sandberg’s (2009) ‘gangster’ discourse. Those pimping to survive tend to
express ‘oppression’ discourse. Despite their at-risk statuses, many younger pimps
demonstrate a hybrid (insider/outsider) orientation, which is one of versatility where
participants describe an ability to master both illicit and licit worlds or at least maximize
their opportunities by participating in both worlds.
Keywords: pimps, offender narratives, U.S. economy, inclusion/exclusion
INTRODUCTION
Underlying the dominant narrative about pimps1 is that they predominantly exist in a
deviant, subterranean underworld and that their social identities are entrenched in pimp counter-
culture (Slim, 2009; Milner & Milner, 1973; Quinn, 2000). We know, based on existing
desistance and criminal social identification research, that criminal behavior often represents
1 In this paper, we define a pimp as someone who has procured, facilitated, managed, or similarly contributed to commercial sex
transactions in some ancillary way. We discuss this study’s inclusion and exclusion criteria in the methods section below. We
acknowledge that “pimp” is a highly contested, racialized term, but this term is more recognizable than alternatives like “third
party” to readers as well as participants in this study.
190 HORNING ET AL.
only a small fraction of offenders’ behaviors (e.g., Sampson, 2009), and it does not necessarily
correspond to lasting pathways (Maruna & Roy, 2007). Sykes and Matza (1957) suggest that all
offenders absorb mainstream cultural orientations despite high levels of criminal activity.
Subsequent studies testing neutralization theory, or the ways that offenders justify or excuse
engagement in crime, suggests that many types of offenders have mainstream orientations
(Maruna & Copes 2005). We explore how exposure to licit and illicit economic worlds shapes
pimps’ pathways towards licit work, to continuing in illicit work, or to being in both illicit and
licit worlds, and how this relates to their mainstream (insider), oppositional (outsider), or hybrid
(interdiscursive) discourse.
We focus on variation in how younger (18-23) and older (24-67) pimps interact with the
economy and how they feel about this. The participants of this study are mostly lower
socioeconomic status African-American and Latino males, with the primary source of variation
being age. In general, younger people are more economically disadvantaged, and we expect the
same of younger pimps; however, they potentially have experienced less negative contact in licit
spheres due to their limited life experiences. They may traverse worlds more readily because
they are less entrenched in pimping, and therefore may have more flexible accounts. The ways
that pimps experience the U.S. economy may provide important information about these criminal
entrepreneurs and how their experiences in licit and illicit economies correspond to their
accounts of insiderness, outsiderness or both.
Theoretical Frameworks: Strain and Neutralization
There is a useful body of research on offenders’ experiences in licit and illicit economies
and how this can shape their pathways away from crime or toward continuing in crime.
Generalizations about the division between licit and illicit worlds are evident based on the
popularity of the “dual-city” hypothesis, or the idea that there is 1) a licit world and 2) a distinct
alien, subterranean underworld (see Bauman, 1998). In Urban Outcasts, Wacquant (2008)
compares American ‘ghettos’ and French ‘banlieues’ to understand urban marginality in
advanced capitalist countries. His work supports the ‘dual-city hypothesis,’ finding that in these
contexts there are firm spatial, social, cultural and economic boundaries between insiders and
outsiders, and even ‘cities within cities.’ These dual cities are not just about separation in
physical space, but also mental or ideological structures. Wacquant analyzes the mental
structures of marginality, and he is able to draw links between social and spatial boundaries and
what ‘ghetto’ residents feel is possible.
Related to these mental structures of marginality, there is a long history of criminologists
who explore whether offenders express mainstream or oppositional orientations (Becker, 2008;
Presser, 2004; Sykes & Matza, 1957; Sandberg, 2009; Topalli, 2005). In the 1960s, the notion of
a firm boundary between worlds was challenged by Matza in his seminal work Delinquency and
Drift, where he argues that people drift back and forth from non-criminal to criminal activities,
including labor.
Historically, lower-echelon pimping was more street-based and therefore more public.
Matza rightly emphasizes that a component of oppositional crime is its publicness. From the
1970s through the early 1990s (end of the crack era), street-based pimping was common in some
New York City boroughs, such as Harlem and the Bronx. The publicness of the pimp “hustler”
JQCJC VOLUME 7 ISSUE 3 (SPRING 2019)
originated from resistance to white culture and subverting existing power structures (Cleaver,
1968; X & Haley, 1965). The street pimp of this era is imagined as being the embodiment of
extreme oppositional masculinity or performing masculinity by inverting or subverting
mainstream values (Messerschmidt, 1997). Yet many studies show that pimping in the 21st
century has been moving off the street (Dank et al., 2014; Musto 2014; Venkatesh 2011). Unless
publicness is similarly reconfigured online or inside, pimps may lose some of this historical style
of public oppositionality or outsiderness.
In his research, Sandberg (2009) challenges the dichotomy that both Wacquant and
Matza present, showing that it is difficult to imagine ‘deviant’ actors fully embodying an
oppositional or mainstream orientation. In accounts, oppositional and neutralization discourse
can be readily performed within a single narrative (Sandberg, 2009). Sandberg interviewed
minority drug dealers in Norway and found a ‘bilingual' discursive practice. What he called
‘gangster discourse' focuses on being ‘hard, sexy, and smart,' and importantly is in relation to
garnering the respect of other outsiders engaged in street life. In this type of scenario, gangster
discourse can be seen as an expression of oppositional masculinity. Sandberg also identified
‘oppression discourse,' which focuses on unemployment, racism, and lack of assistance, and is
used by respondents to justify crime. Sandberg surmised that these supposedly opposing
positions are rarely traced simultaneously because recognizing the co-existence of these
positions threatens prevalent criminological models like Matza’s or Wacquant’s. Sandberg
challenges the dominant binary distinction on methodological grounds by arguing ‘deviant
actors’ relationship to culture should not be construed in either/or terms. Both ‘oppression’ and
‘gangster’ discourses are ‘at-risk’ discourse, but oppression discourse is used to justify crime (a
mainstream orientation), whereas gangster discourse is oppositional.
Pimping is an activity where the goal of money-making is inherent (see Goines, 2012;
Slim, 2009). The more general American cultural emphasis on profit motive has been explored in
many studies addressing the American Dream, including its underbelly (Merton, 1938; Messner
& Rosenfeld, 1995). Merton’s (1938) classical strain theory explores how people position
themselves to the U.S. economy. He explores ‘American dream’ goals/means discrepancies.
People who accept the U.S. cultural goal of money-making and the institutionalized means of
attaining money, i.e., licit work, are ‘conformists,’ and ‘innovators’ are those who accept the
cultural goal, but who are barred from opportunity and instead generate money in creative “off-
the-books” ways. Murphy and Robinson (2008) expand upon Merton’s typology and add a more
flexible category of ‘maximizer’ or someone who is simultaneously a conformist and an
innovator. A maximizer as compared to Matza’s drifter has more intentionality in moving
between illicit and licit spheres because he/she seeks to generate the most economic return.
One’s marginality, which is often dictated by intersectionality between factors like race, class,
gender, and age, may dictate one’s ability to conform or to maximize by operating in both illicit
and licit worlds.
Intersectionality and Economic Marginality: Gangster and Oppression Discourses
Intersectionality across race, class, gender, and age is tied to opportunity in the U.S.
economy and also to feelings of insiderness and outsiderness. In terms of job opportunities,
employment rates broken down by race show the differential impact of race on joblessness. For
example, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2016), black males aged 16 to 19 had a
192 HORNING ET AL.
33.3% unemployment rate in the third quarter of 2016, whereas the unemployment rate for their
white counterparts was 13.9% and for Latinos 19%. The realities of young black joblessness and
other economic, cultural, and socio-political marginalization provide the context for our analysis.
For black youth who enter the licit economy, prospects of success remain risky as they
enter middle age (Hulme & Shepherd, 2003; Larson & Mohanty, 1999; Shulman, 1996). As the
U.S. labor market has moved away from manufacturing and other blue-collar jobs toward
service-sector jobs, black adults (especially males) increasingly suffer from disproportionate
unemployment and underemployment (Larson & Mohanty, 1999; Shulman, 1996; Wacquant,
2008; Wilson, 2011). For African-Americans, educational credentials like a high school diploma
have become more and more necessary but less and less sufficient to overcome various barriers
to entry in the job market – even for entry-level jobs, which increasingly require college degrees
at minimum (McDaniel & Kuehn, 2013). Even within predominantly black neighborhoods, black
businesses are less likely to receive loans and support from banks, making licit entrepreneurship
unattainable for most (Immergluck, 2002). Thus, the unregulated illicit markets may present risk
but also present greater opportunities to advance economically compared to the risky, less
lucrative licit markets. Paradoxically, the illicit market may be perceived as a less risky option
for young people, at least in the short term.
Age is an important component of intersectionality, with some critical social scientists
arguing that the U.S extension of a lengthy period of adolescence may be explained through the
political economy model (Côté and Allahar, 1996). For instance, governmental policies about
legal age requirements for entering the labor force, the low standards for minimum wage, and
business practices requiring more educational credentials for jobs for technical or professional
work are beneficial to middle-aged workers (Côté & Allahar, 1996; Dornbusch, 1989; Hynes &
Hirsch, 2012; Shanahan, 2000; Shanahan et al, 2005; Vondracek et al, 2003). The result is that
the ever-widening category of youth can be construed as relegated to a disenfranchised class
(Arnett, 2002; Côté & Allahar, 1996; Hertz, 2005). Youth are often excluded from positions of
power, as they often work in part-time, service sector jobs with no benefits (Wacquant, 2008).
While many young people in the U.S. may choose to be cheap, surplus labor, some
entrepreneurial youth, especially people of color living in housing projects who have historically
been barred even from these lowly positions, may develop illicit means of income such as drug
dealing or pimping (Wacquant, 2008).
Offenders’ interpretations of barriers or openings to more economic return can be
explained by Merton’s ideas of opportunity, and life course theorists’ emphasis on ‘turning
points’ or changes that alter pathways (Sampson & Laub, 1995). They are both theories attuned
to human adaptation, and lower echelon pimps' interpretations of barriers and openings will
allow for an understanding of their different perceptions of their economic pathways as driven by
adaptation. We expand on Matza’s idea of drift to explore how pimps interpret their engagement
in both worlds, with some experiencing both economic worlds simultaneously.
Younger as compared to older pimps are more ‘at-risk' due to their position in the U.S.
economy, but because they are young, they may produce accounts that are less entrenched in
oppositional or outsider thinking. These illicit experiences may provide them with more power as
compared to their counterparts who work in the licit sector, but as youth in the overall economy,
they should be more disenfranchised in both worlds. While they are technically more
JQCJC VOLUME 7 ISSUE 3 (SPRING 2019)
marginalized due to reasons outlined in the ‘political economy of youth' model, they may be less
committed to this type of work and the social identifications that go along with it. Also, they may
be more optimistic about their opportunities due to not yet having had disappointing or alienating
experiences within the licit U.S. economy (Kirschenman & Neckerman, 1991). However, their
disenfranchised status in both worlds may loosen their attachment to both insider and outsider
positions and corresponding ideologies.
In general, pimping involves both an economic motivation and the feelings associated
with higher status, such as neighborhood level status and feeling more independent from socio-
structural constraints. Younger and older pimps may both disparage "straight" work in menial
positions and focus on the hustle, the glamour, and fast money. We do expect them both to use
all types of ‘at-risk’ discourse described by Sandberg, but we also expect the younger pimps to
show more hybrid discursivities.
CURRENT STUDY
The current study explores how pimps discuss their economic pathways – i.e., how their
pimping leads to distinct types of work outcomes and how they discuss their associated feelings
and attitudes. We compare younger (18-23) to older (24-67) pimps, anticipating that younger
participants would be more adaptive and produce discourse less entrenched in outsider thinking.
First, we examine pimps’ movements between licit and illicit work worlds. Our research
questions explore the main pathways between pimping and these work worlds: how do these
pimps understand their pimping as part of a movement toward or away from licit work, and what
does that tell us about the motivations behind their pimping? How do other factors such as age
and education opportunities influence how they understand those pathways?
Second, we analyze their stories to see how their experiences in both worlds connect to
insider or outsider discourse. Insider discourse in this context reflects a more mainstream
orientation, and outsider discourse a more oppositional orientation. How do certain types of
pimps use a more oppositional, outsider discourse that aligns with Sandberg’s ‘gangster’
discourse, versus others using a more insider, mainstream discourse that aligns with Sandberg’s
‘oppression’ discourse? What else do these discursive patterns tell us about how pimps make
sense of their movements between work worlds?
Method
Sample and Data Collection. To investigate how pimps feel about their position in the
U.S. economy and the ‘dual-city’ dichotomy, 85 male pimps were recruited from housing
projects in Harlem for qualitative interviews. We used the term “pimp” during recruitment
because other academic terms, like “third-party,” are unfamiliar to this population. To qualify for
this study, participants had to have played at least an ancillary role in commercial sex, such as
connecting sex workers and clients and/or facilitating sex work through providing resources or
other aid (Davis, 2013). These inclusion and exclusion criteria were expressed in clear language
to make sure that participants had actually procured, facilitated, managed, or otherwise
contributed to commercial sex.
194 HORNING ET AL.
The majority of the interviews took place in open courtyards in three housing projects in
East Harlem, New York, with people from these communities. East Harlem has one of the largest
concentrations of low-income housing in the country and has more than 16 public housing
developments with over 16,000 residents (Harlem Community Justice Center, 2011). The first
and primary location was Taino Towers in East Harlem. The complex spans one city block and
has over 3,000 residents. Other research sites for this study included the George Washington
Carver House. People living in these housing projects are at high risk for family poverty, under-
employment, and high rates of juvenile delinquency (Harlem Community Justice Center, 2011).
East Harlem is one of the nation’s poorest communities. According to census data from the
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Harlem is rated 10 out of 10 on the
community disadvantage index, which means that it is poorer than 99% of communities
nationally (as cited in Harlem Community Justice Center, 2011).
Harlem residents fit Wacquant’s categorization of those experiencing new kinds of
exclusion at the margins, or advanced marginalization. Wacquant identifies distinctive properties
of the rise of marginality, including de-socialization of wage labor; mass joblessness;
concentrated advanced marginalization in bounded territories, such as housing projects; and the
alienation and deteriorating sense of community in these spaces (Wacquant, 2008). The levels of
deprivation experienced by those relegated to American ghettos influences how they connect to
licit sectors and how they operate in the overall commercial sex market. The participants in this
study operated in the ground-floor tier of the market, and historically their work is street-based.
Our sample was not representative, which is typical of most studies conducted on this
hidden population. Snowball sampling was the intended strategy because it typically is used in
non-probability fieldwork studies, particularly when participants are active offenders (Flick,
2009). In this sampling technique, initial research participants (or gatekeepers) refer similar
participants in a chain of referrals. One limitation of snowball sampling is selection bias because
the pool of participants is derived through a few initial contacts or seeds. With this hard-to-reach
population, the initial gatekeepers remained the primary sources of referral.
The study shifted to a convenience sample and an agora sample, or a sample obtained
from public open space (Horning & Sriken, 2017; Horning et al., 2018). Interviews took place in
housing project courtyards that are akin to a town square. Residents and their friends and
acquaintances socialize in these spaces. Participants witness the on-site interviews and ask about
the study. Participants who are actively offending may feel more comfortable because they can
see that other participants safely complete interviews without being arrested.
Two gatekeepers facilitated access to these communities. They both lived in these
housing projects and formerly worked as pimps within families who sold sex. The gatekeepers
escorted the team through security at different housing projects (since only residents or those
with permission were allowed entrance). During the winter months, we moved indoors to two
nonprofit organizations in Harlem.
Interviews and ethics. The interviews were semi-structured and lasted from 30 to 90
minutes. Pimps were paid $30 for participation. Pimps were asked about how they conduct work
on a daily basis and about their relationships with sex workers and clients. Interviews were
confidential and tape-recorded, and verbal consent was given for participation. We received
JQCJC VOLUME 7 ISSUE 3 (SPRING 2019)
Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for participants in the study to waive written
documentation of their informed consent because the main threat to these participants would be
the existence of written documentation of their participation in the study. There are no
identifiers, and participants gave pseudonyms. Participants were warned about the potential risks
and benefits of participation. Participants were given the option to do interviews inside or in
public space.
Analytic approach. Initially, each interview was analyzed using the Listening Guide
(Doucet & Mauthner, 2008). This was followed by several readings of the interviews using
queries such as, “How do participants speak about themselves and their social worlds?” and
“What are the structured power relations?” Based on this initial exploration of the data, the
sensitizing concepts of their positions within illicit and licit economies arose. These sensitizing
concepts or general guides (Blumer, 1954) helped us formulate research questions around
economic pathways (that support and challenge the dual-city hypothesis, Merton’s deviance
typology and Matza’s idea of ‘drift). Then, we explored how participants used outsider
discourse identified by Sandberg, that is, gangster discourse. Gangster discourse is about being
hard, respected and “street smart,” thereby bypassing the need to be included in the licit sector
economy (derived from Sandberg, 2009). Oppression discourse involves personal narratives of
unemployment and racism used to describe why one is precluded from the licit sector economy
(derived from Sandberg, 2009). Those who use this are coming from positions of exclusion, but
they are aligned with a mainstream orientation because they feel compelled to justify ‘bad’
behavior. Insider discourse is where participants express alignment with mainstream goals of
licit working or traditional education. Based on Murphy and Robinson’s concept of a maximizer,
we included a third discourse, one of versatility that is more of a hybrid orientation (outsider and
insider). Versatility discourse involves talk of being adept at navigating both illicit and licit
sector economies. Pimps’ relationship to illicit and licit economies will be explored with
flexibility in positions and accounts in mind.
In all, 85 pimps were interviewed for this study. Most of the participants are racial
minorities: African-American, (n=63, 74.1%); Latino (n=13, 25.3%); Other (n=9, 0.6%). The
prevalence of African-American participants is higher, and the percent of Latinos is lower as
compared to the local population. All participants are male. The average number of sex workers
a pimp manages is six (1-63 workers). The average time spent pimping is six years (1-30 years).
Most pimps started this labor when they were young, with the average starting at age 17 (9-37
years old). The mean average current age is 27 years old (range 18 – 67 years old; median=23).
There were 40 younger pimps (18-23) and 45 older pimps (24-67). We categorized those
from 18-23 as younger pimps because those in this age bracket encompasses those who
experience the most disenfranchisement in the U.S. economy (Côté & Allahar, 1996). They have
more recently attended high school and have had parental guardianship. Those from 18-23 are
often relegated to menial labor in the licit economy, and after college-age, they are expected to
be credentialed if they plan on escaping low-paying and degrading work.
Several study participants work in both the illicit and licit economies. At the time this
research was conducted, 16.5% (N=14) worked in the licit economy. Generally, they perform
service jobs at fast-food restaurants and grocery stores or do manual labor jobs, such as
delivering packages for the United Postal Service. Other participants have a history of legal
196 HORNING ET AL.
employment. Over one-fourth, or 28.2% (N=24), formerly worked in the legal economy. 15.3%
(N=13) of the participants would like to have licit work, but they more often aspire to higher-
level positions, such as being managers or owning their own business in the formal sector.
Overall, 60% of study participants had some relationship to the legal economy, 35.3% (N=38)
never had licit work, and many did not express interest in this type of work, and 4.7% (N=4) did
not provide responses to these questions. For the majority of their pimping careers, n=31,
(36.5%) operated in the licit and illicit worlds simultaneously.
PimpsPathways Towards Licit, Illicit Economies or Both
Based on age and socio-structural factors, many pimps encounter barriers to crossing the
boundary between the licit and illicit work world, while others find opportunities in licit worlds
or both. We explore different pathways garnered through pimping and the various barriers or
gains that pimps encounter that shape their trajectories.
Table 1: Pathways to Licit and Illicit Work
Pimping toward illicit work (n = 32, 37.6%)
Pimping prison and check the box illicit work only
Pimping bad experience in the licit sector illicit work only
Pimping hustler identity illicit work only
Pimping toward licit work (n = 21, 25.9%)
Pimping prison licit work
Pimping developed human capital in other ways licit work
Pimping bad experience in illicit sector licit work
Pimping toward mastery of both worlds of work (n = 31, 36.5%)
Pimping college and pimping licit and illicit work
Pimping
maximizing licit and illicit work
We asked participants about their positions in relation to illicit and licit work, and several
types of pathways emerged (see Table 1). The first pathway is Pimping and Continuing Illicit
Work (n=32, 37.6%), in which pimps were blocked from opportunities due to being labeled as
felons, so they had bad experiences in the licit market and/or they continued pimping to survive
and/or to maintain their dignity. The second type of pathway is Pimping Toward Licit Work
(n=22, 25.9%), in which pimps experience a change in human capital, and legal work and/or
college become more attainable. The third pathway is Pimping Toward Mastery of Both Worlds
of Work (n=31, 36.5%), in which pimps are simultaneously in illicit and licit worlds.
Table 2: Relationship Between Pimps’ Age and Pathways
Younger
(n=40)
Older
(n=45)
Total
(n= 85)
Pimping and Continuing
Illicit Work
25.0%
(n=10)
48.9%
(n=22)
37.6%
(n=32)
JQCJC VOLUME 7 ISSUE 3 (SPRING 2019)
Pimping Toward Licit
Work
37.5%
(n=15)
15.6%
(n=7)
25.9%
(n=22)
Pimping Toward
Mastery of Worlds
37.5%
(n=15)
35.6%
(n=16)
36.5%
(n=31)
Note: Pearson Chi2=7.172, p-value=0.028.
Table 2 shows a clear quantitative difference between younger and older pimps’ types of
pathways. The Chi2 test finding a statistically significant difference between the actual and
expected counts of younger versus older pimps’ pathways. Of the younger pimps, 10 (25%) are
pimping and plan on continuing illicit work, compared to 22 (48.9%) of older pimps. Of the
younger pimps, 15 (37.5%) are pimping and are moving towards doing licit work, compared to
only 7 (15.6%) of older pimps. Last, of the younger pimps, 15 (37.5%) are trying to master both
worlds, and 16 (35.6%) of older pimps are doing the same thing. Older pimps are more
entrenched in the purely illicit pathway as evidenced quantitatively and shown in accounts
below; however, a number of younger and older pimps are within both worlds to maximize, but
they perceive their positions in qualitatively different ways.
The first pathway is Pimping and Continuing Illicit Work with older pimps showing
discursive themes of barriers, missed opportunities and/or humiliation in licit markets. Those
with felony labels (obtained from all types of convictions) felt that this stigma precluded from
joining the licit workforce. Chicago Blue discusses this real problem.
As long as I am on the earth, I can walk and breath, nobody gonna hire me. I am a
convicted felon. Government ain’t gonna give me no job. Police ain’t gonna give
me no job. Sanitation ain’t gonna give me no job. Construction ain’t gonna give me
no job and the MTA ain’t gonna give me no job. So who gonna hire me? So what
else am I gonna do? Ain’t nothing else to do.
Some older pimps (ages 24 to 67) are barred from licit work because of prior felony
convictions that preclude them from holding many licit jobs. In most U.S. states, felons are
required to identify their status on job applications. Many of them are bypassed as unsuitable
even for menial labor (Mathias, 2015). In 2015, New York City passed a groundbreaking policy
called the Fair Chance Act that means felons are no longer required to check the box on job
applications that identifies them as having a prior conviction. As of 2015, similar policies had
passed in 17 states and more than 100 cities (Mathias, 2015). However, these policies only apply
to private-sector jobs, which is problematic because this bars felons from applying for civil
service positions that historically have been accessible to racial minorities (Rubio, 2010). Also,
in some states don’t check the box policies only hide the felony during the initial screening;
background checks can be done on serious candidates. If this type of “fair chance” policy
remains intact, improves and gains traction in other states and/or expands to public-sector
positions, then this pathway may become obsolete.
Many older pimps have missed important milestones such as first jobs, training, college,
and licit job histories. They feel too old to get college degrees and are unable to get jobs
requiring technological skills. Many older pimps also have a disadvantage in licit markets
because they are not native to technology. Even though pimping has moved online and
198 HORNING ET AL.
technology is more readily used for this kind of work, many describe lacking the technological
savvy required for jobs other than menial labor. Chicago Blue ponders the idea of returning to
college to update his knowledge of technology, but he reflects on the impossibility of actually
becoming proficient enough, even with training.
Can't go back to school. I'm forty-something years old. Go back to school and
learn what? Technology? Computers? What that gonna do for me? Nothing.
What's it gonna do? Everything changes. They got the iPads, and you know, the
iPhones. All them technologies, for what? I remember Total Recall, remember
when Arnold Schwarzenegger back in the day? That's the same shit they're doing
now. Have you ever noticed, all the movies that came out, that has something to
do with technology, it's coming. It's a cycle; everything changes.
Early on in life, some pimps foray into licit jobs and quickly realize that minimum wage
jobs do not allow for a basic living wage and they are humiliating. These early bad experiences
repel them from pursuing licit work. The economic returns from customer service positions do
not amount to enough. For instance, Baby Sean, 26, reflects on the low wages he once received
at McDonald’s and compares this to the fast economic returns from pimping.
I wouldn't give up this for no McDonald's. No, not anymore. I mean I’m making a
little minimum wage, 7.25 or 7 dollars an hour. Back then, uh, it wasn’t doing
nothing compared to what this is doing for me right now. No way. I can make that
in about a couple minutes you know (through pimping).
Both younger and older pimps showed the theme of pimping to survive. However,
younger pimps are in a different position having recently been underage and often coming from
at-risk families. For some of these pimps, earning money to help their struggling families was
evident. They typically have parents who are unable to support them. Moreover, many of them
use their income to support family members by paying rent and buying food, clothes, and even
schoolbooks. For instance, Buddy Love, 21, talks about the “bigger picture,” or how he uses his
income to help his family, especially his siblings.
I’m looking at the bigger picture. I don’t wanna live with my parents for the rest of
my life. The majority of them (my family) work, but I feed them too, so it’s like I
make sure they good. I have two more older brothers. They in school (college). I
pay for them to get they books. (---) Send ’em they checks they can just do whatever
they want with it so like. I’m the type I give you money. I don’t want it back.
Due to their young age, younger pimps demonstrating this theme in accounts often
reflects disruptive family environments. For instance, many respondents describe how they and
other at-risk teens ban together in order to get money. The need for this cooperative activity
stems from an array of problems, including having ill, poor, or absentee parents. Others are
disconnected from their parents and meet in places such as foster care, homeless shelters, or the
streets. Their disenfranchised status is magnified by the reality that they live with little to no
adult guardianship. Having limited options in licit markets, they facilitate selling sex and
engaging in sex work to survive. Older pimps reflected on this theme in their early lives as
coming-of-age stories. For older pimps, pimping as a method of survival was normalized, or in
JQCJC VOLUME 7 ISSUE 3 (SPRING 2019)
other cases, it was no longer about survival because they acquired enough economic capital
through the years of working.
Younger people have had a shorter experience with both economies, and they have a
special position in the economy based on the political economy of youth paradigm. Of the 40
younger pimps, 27.5% (n=11) serve as cheap, surplus labor in the illicit marketplace; many work
for older family members. Those pimps who work for family members (e.g., fathers, uncles, or
cousins) either work for free or serve as apprentices for a period of time. Only half (n=20) of the
younger pimps in this study qualify as cheap, surplus labor if you combine their participation in
legal and illegal sectors. Although this study does not involve a statistically representative
probability sample, the fact that half of the young pimps in our sample do not discuss themselves
as cheap, surplus labor stands in contrast to the majority of young men of color in the legal U.S.
labor market, who tend to be relegated to low-skill, low-wage jobs or unemployment (Côté &
Allahar, 1996; Wilson, 2011). The young pimps’ accounts of their work suggest they feel that
they are faring better than their counterparts working in legal sectors. They feel the illicit sector
may give them more agency or opportunities than they could have access to in the legal
economy, and their accounts reflect themes of relative empowerment. However, their accounts
suggest they may also be harnessed to illegal work at least until they can afford to leave their
family homes and/or leave the business without too much family conflict.
Older pimps who worked for family describe similar apprentice roles while growing up,
but the majority had graduated from these lowly apprenticing positions. Only one older pimp
was being exploited by older family members. If you include work in the licit and illicit sectors,
(28.9%) (n=13) of the older pimps in this sample qualify as cheap, surplus labor. Both younger
and older groups who straddle economies supplement their income with low-level jobs, such as
cashier and sales positions or blue collar work. These jobs often have little to no benefits or
limited room for upward mobility. Only a few had higher level jobs such as working for the
Board of Education or mid-level positions. The older pimps who quit pimping described being
content with low-level work, such as janitorial work, but they do reflect back on more exciting
times in the illicit world. The older pimps were more resigned to this lower-level work, whereas
the younger pimps describe their cheap, surplus labor jobs as unimportant or temporary.
The second type of pathway is Pimping Toward Licit Work and the discursive themes are
openings, opportunities, and transferability of illicit skills. Tenacious, 35, discusses how access
to college in prison changed his opportunities.
I caught a bid and went upstate for a couple of years and wind up going to school.
I went to college. I got a college degree and got an Associates, a Bachelors, and I
got into…um business wise…advertisement, you know. And did that for a while,
you know and that I tell you I’m fortunate.
Although many older pimps resign themselves to criminal lifestyles, a few like Tenacious
found that some rehabilitative aspects of their prison experiences helped them develop the capital
necessary for the licit sector. For example, when Tenacious spent time in prison in the 1970s and
1980s, there were more educational opportunities for people who were incarcerated. These types
of programs began in the 1950s and showed some positive results in reducing recidivism (Steurer
& Smith, 2003; U.S. Department of Education, 1994; Vacca, 2004). However, in the 1990s most
200 HORNING ET AL.
educational programs in prison were discontinued, despite prison wardens on the ground
supporting expanded education and vocation programs due to their perceived clinical success
(Cullen et al., 1993; Phelps, 2011). Unless such programs are re-established, it is likely that this
pathway will diminish.
Some pimps described gaining a lot of general knowledge about running businesses from
pimping. They tried to develop and hone skills, such as marketing, negotiating, and managing
workers and these are transferrable in other business contexts. A number of these business-wise
pimps also sold drugs. They used the same client list, with the idea that people wanted to party
with drugs and sex. They were able to transfer their skills across illicit markets and later used
their flair for business in licit worlds. Jeremiah discusses how pimping not only put food on his
table but also provided him with a transferrable skill in the licit sector.
Shit, well I just got promoted at my job so they pushing me into management. I’m
probably gonna be manager by then. More likely than you know. It’s, you know,
just understood this much. I don’t know what nobody else said, but a large part of
what I was doing was just survival (---). That was another business and that’s it.
I’m attracted to money and that’s it. That’s another way to get money.
In this pathway, the ability to leave pimping depended on the acquisition of some kind of
capital, whether it was garnered through programs, such as college or job training or through
engaging in the job of pimping. This period of learning and acquiring new skills gave pimps the
human capital to pursue and succeed at jobs in the licit world.
The third pathway is Pimping Toward Mastery of Both Worlds of Work, and the
discursive themes are versatility, making ends meet and maximization. Some younger pimps in
this sample attend school and college. Over half 22 (50.6%) of the younger pimps currently or
used to attend school. Many of them feel that through college they can gain skills to improve
their illicit businesses. They discuss business courses, such as marketing or communication and
talk about how this gives them business ideas. For others, college is a great place for learning
about business and for their business. For instance, Jason chose a large community college where
he can easily expand his client base and recruit more workers. John, 22, is pimping in order to
finance purchasing multiple legitimate businesses, and he claims to have already saved over
$100,000 as a starting point. He drew a picture of his business plan that envisioned his owning a
condo and multiple businesses, which can be interpreted as an ambitious, if not plausibly
feasible, American Dream. He reported that he is currently a business major and seems to be
constructing his business model based on various courses he is taking, such as online marketing.
His goal is to gain enough capital through pimping to expand to licit-sector businesses, such as a
limousine company, various online endeavors, and eventually ownership of a Fortune 500
company. He reported that he had already invested in the stock market and was increasing his
capital. He claims to have the money to purchase a condo and to be in the process of saving for
the rest. He is trying to maximize his opportunities and plans to remain in both worlds, even if
some of the details of his plans might seem fanciful. This is an example of a young man who
values successfully mastering both work worlds.
The border between licit and illicit spheres is not so firm for these pimps for whom skills
learned in one arena can be used in the other, and who blend these spheres in creative ways.
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Almost none of the younger pimps describe firm boundaries between their licit and illicit lives,
but many of them are not yet in long-term or higher-level positions in the licit world.
Some younger pimps are in this line of work to maximize their income in order to
participate in U.S. consumer culture, which generally is important to young people (Côté &
Allahar, (1996). A common theme in the accounts of the younger pimps was on spending their
often meager earnings on clothes and sneakers. Many mention a need for sneakers, a symbol of
status for many black teenagers (Collins, 2006). The ability to sport the latest fashion trends,
despite being poor, is very important to youth in lower echelon markets (Vigil, 2003). Percy
reflects on this necessity.
I told her, do you love me? She said yes. And it was like OK, the newest Jordans
came out. I’m not gonna lie. The newest Jordans came out. I really wanted ’em.
And a guy he wanted her. So I told her, I said, yo I really need this. It’s a dire
need.
Younger pimps also talk about how these social status symbols are important to young
sex workers. In some cases, youth may band together so they can successfully don symbols of
social status. Javalucci, 20, and his girlfriend do not make much money in the licit market. One
day, they decide to sell sex for basic living costs. Javalucci talks about saving for the future, but
a portion of his earnings go to new clothing. He says, “I’m saving it for the future, of course.
Like I said, it takes money, takes time to add up. You know, so I take time to buy my sneakers
you know. … You know, she gets her stuff too. She wears nice clothes. Louis Vuitton, Hermes.
Haha. Just adds up.” This spending of meager earnings on clothes and entertainment is typical of
most youth who are disenfranchised because of their age.
Older pimps were also interested in fashion, and they do spend on their attire. Both
groups were invested in masculine street performativity. The importance of attire in street culture
and those engaged in illicit markets has been well-documented (Katz, 1988; Vigil, 2003).
Clothing and sneakers are status symbols in more street-based markets. However, older pimps’
accounts focused on the practicality in buying sex workers clothes and how such investments
would improve business. Some of them described not “spending too much” “being frugal” or
even shopping at the “thrift store.” In most scenarios, the purchase of clothing for workers had a
practical element that was lacking in the accounts of younger pimps.
Older pimps straddle the legal and illegal economies, yet they are more attuned to the
boundary. George talks about how he works for the Board of Education during the week, but
from Thursday to Saturday he works as a pimp in the evenings. He identifies with the clients
who like to keep the dual worlds separate.
Like I said once in occasionally like Sundays, once in a blue moon I would get a
phone call during the regular weekday or something like that. One of the guys
would call me. Hey, man, what you doing? Listen, I feel like hanging out with one
of the girls? You think you can set something up? But that didn’t really happen too
often during the week ’cause you know they still had to maintain their regular lives,
too.
202 HORNING ET AL.
Vikel, 27, has a 9-to-5 job as a salesman, as do many of his sex workers, who work
during the day as sales associates but spend the evenings selling sex. He says both forms of
employment are necessary because of the low wages that they receive in the shoe sales industry.
Many of the older pimps who maximize through participation in both economies do so in order
to make a basic living wage. Some older pimps do move across illicit and licit sectors, but this is
usually because they need both to survive economically. The types of jobs they obtain in licit
sectors are low-level positions. With the decline of factory work, decreasing menial labor
positions and the increase in technological skills needed to work (even in service-sector
positions) (Côté & Allahar, 1996), this pathway may become more infrequent.
Outsider, Insider and Versatility Discourse
This study’s participants express different types of discourse depending on their pathway
and age group. Older pimps (24 to 67 years old) who continued in illicit work in the study
expressed an outsider position where ‘hustling’ constitutes a lifestyle. When asked where he sees
himself in five years, Leon, 30, replies, "I am a pimp forever." Some individuals have worked in
this arena and other illegal sectors for so long that they cannot even imagine themselves doing
licit work. Isaac Taylor, 27, who pimped for 12 years, says, "I never worked before regular. All
my life I was just selling drugs, selling ass, and robbing. Robbing and stealing." Even the ones
that age-out still identify as pimps. Many of the geriatric pimps sat around the courtyard
swapping pimp stories, and many still attended local Player's Balls or events showcasing
successful pimps and their sex workers. These descriptions of being street savvy and therefore
respected and powerful are aligned with Sandberg’s gangster discourse, which reflects
oppositional masculinity.
These pimps who regularly use gangster discourse view their positions as high-status,
especially in comparison to those working long hours for little return. In their remarks, they
suggest that they are empowered by taking control in illicit sectors and through bypassing the
degradation and low returns of menial labor. This is evident in their self-characterization of
"being the boss," "having an empire," "being respected," and taking the reins in their
communities within a capitalist system. Also, they are aligned with Merton’s innovator or even
Murphy and Robinson’s maximizer. They are aligned with the mainstream cultural goal of
money-making, but due to their socio-structural positions and the fact that they are barred from
conventional opportunities, their masculine performance has more success in the illicit sector.
For those pimps who needed the money for basic survival, Sandberg’s oppression
discourse is commonly used to justify their histories. These pimps frequently tell of how they
have limited opportunities due to their disenfranchisement in licit sectors. The need to survive
should not be downplayed as this is a community classified as one of advanced marginalization,
but they are justifying their crimes through neutralization techniques, such as denial of
responsibility. Wes discusses pimping for survival by imagining that he might be lacking in the
most basic aspects of human needs. Many younger pimps are focused on immediate needs such
as paying bills, eating, and basic survival.
I was thinking about what can I do with my life for me to get some kinda money
out of it? Cause it’s like I don’t wanna walk around the streets broke. Cause when
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I’m hungry I’m a-be starving. When I’m thirsty … when I need something to drink,
I’m a-be thirsty.
Younger pimps also discuss access to education, a topic that older pimps tend to
disregard as a possibility. But some younger pimps do feel that college is out of their grasp.
Some pimps believe they do not belong in college because of their marginalization, which
respondents articulate through oppression and gangster discourse. A team of three pimps speaks
frankly about how, for them, some things were unattainable. The team leader states, “We’re
obviously not gonna be, you know, lawyers or doctors or CIA or anything.” But they also say
that they are also too badass for that kind of setting. Such remarks are more aligned with
gangster discourse. Even though at-risk discourses are prevalent in their accounts, they are
optimistic about their idea to “make dreams come true” in the licit sector. They are rap artists
who pool all of their money from pimping to record their music. Trio 2:
It’s like when we was young coming up we had dreams of doing that, but it’s like
now how you see reality is like, you know, some dreams can’t come true. But it’s
like that’s not gonna stop me from making it come true you know.
Steve, 19, uses oppression discourse to explain his line of work. His reason for pimping is
to pay bills; he just moved out of his family home, and he could not otherwise afford to be
independent. He uses oppression discourse to clarify why he uses pimping as a creative way to
earn and save money, but he wishes to return to school to study business administration. He does
not see an impenetrable boundary between himself and college guys.
Just made my ambition higher to get money. That’s it. Everybody’s life is not
planned out for them. So everybody can’t go to college, get degrees, and make
money. It’s not easy. You know what I’m saying? It’s not as easy as it looks. It’s
the right way to go, but it’s not as easy living in the hood. You living through
poverty. You know. You don’t got it. Whatever, you got little sisters making some
money and you they need sneakers. Gotta go out and get it one way or another.
Interviewer: Not everybody is doing this though, right?
Nah, nah, everybody do they own thing. Everybody get they own type of money
through they own way.
Percy, 21, started pimping at age 14. He calls pimping "straight negativity." But at the
same time, he talks about the perks of being his own boss. For Percy, the independence he
obtains through pimping provides a means of escaping the confines of menial labor. The
traditional institutions of work do not regulate his movements, and no one has the power to fire
him. Percy's feelings of control are derived from the fact that, while he is engaged in money-
making endeavors (similar to mainstream accounts) along with other members of his
demographic, he has freedoms that other working-class people from his demographic do not.
Oppression and gangster discourses are both present in these types of accounts. Many young
people talk of initially being limited to low-wage jobs. Rejecting that position, they are now
badass. They are bosses who can do as they please. These accounts are about difference, but they
still align with American cultural goals of money-making (Merton, 1938).
204 HORNING ET AL.
Percy: I went from being a kid with a lot of positive outlooks to straight negativity.
And yes, pimping has done that. But then you gotta look at a pimp's life. Pimp
nigger, do what he wanna a do. You clock in when you wanna clock in. You clock
out when you wanna clock out. You pay yourself how much you wanna pay
yourself. If I wake up 9 o'clock and say I wanna drink liquor, I’m gonna drink
liquor. If I wake up and say I wanna smoke, I'm gonna smoke. I’m my own boss.
Interviewer: So you set your own . . .
Percy: I tell myself, I hire and fire myself
The more surprising accounts are from those who describe moving seamlessly between
worlds and attempting to master both. Travis discusses always knowing that he could pimp but
feeling unsure of his ability to be a college man. He tells the story of how he discovers that he
may excel in both arenas, but without a specific aspiration of quitting either. While he sees a
boundary between them, he also sees himself as not only being able to glide across it, but also to
skillfully be in control in both worlds. This is reflective of a discourse of versatility, where both
licit and illicit spheres are navigated.
In the street I hustle, go to school part time. I got to X college. I study, I’m studying
communication. Like that right here (pimping), that is a part time job. That thing,
lifestyle, I came into that. I already knew I could be that, that’s something that I
wanted to be (college guy).
Younger pimps’ ideas about education and going to college vary. Eleven of the younger
pimps (28.2%) believe that education is worth it, and they aspire to complete Associate or
Bachelor’s degrees, typically in business or communications. Some believe that being
credentialed will positively change their futures. Other younger pimps challenge this idea. For
example, Reno is quite aware of the enormous debt incurred by his educated counterparts. He
feels that social movements at the time of the interview, such as Occupy Wall Street, reflect
young people’s reluctance to believe in the “American Dream.”
So many people are part of that whole Zuccotti Park and the one percent, and I think
people from your school and those schools have gone and protested about that,
their, you know, their tuition hundred thousand, two hundred thousand dollars in
tuition. There’s not jobs. And so the American Dream has changed.Don’t go to
college anymore.
Reno’s point about the widening gap between the rich and the poor reflects a
sophisticated awareness of important political debates happening at the time of the interviews. A
few decades ago, his sentiments might have been considered oppositional, but in this period
some of his ideas became more mainstream on the political left and right. For example, former
Secretary of Education and conservative pundit William Bennett echoed Reno when he argued
that a four-year higher education was not financially worthwhile or necessary for success.
Furthermore, Reno’s sentiment may apply to those in various social strata, not just those
experiencing marginalization like his own. In Reno’s quote about Occupy Wall Street, his
JQCJC VOLUME 7 ISSUE 3 (SPRING 2019)
position does not align with the standard oppression discourse, where exclusion is framed
through being at risk because of race and other marginalized positions. Instead, he directly
references angry college students in the Occupy Wall Street movement, and specifically the
protesters in Zuccotti Park on the other end of Manhattan, a socioeconomic world away. The
main slogan there was about solidarity among the 99% united against the 1% who hold wealth
and power. As such, Reno implicitly aligns himself with the majority of the population.
Some pimps refuse to see the difference between licit and illicit work. They appear to de-
emphasize this boundary and instead see sameness between themselves and the mainstream.
They view degradation and subordination as inherent in any kind of labor. They argue,
moreover, that “pimp” and “ho” are merely imposed labels. For instance, Cyril believes that
irrespective of race, many people operate in the pimp-and-ho paradigm, although unlike him and
his workers, these other people are being paid only minimum wage.
I would say this not only a black and Spanish thing, and when you put the word
pimp, ho, you limit it. You know. Because it’s much bigger than the four-letter
word. And two-letter word. You know.
Interviewer: That's true.
There’s people that’s pimping people right here working at this desk, and there’s
hos that’s running to the fax machine back and forth. That ain’t never gonna leave
that minimum wage bracket that they working for. And at the end of the day they
saying damn, I been here for three years and I ain’t going nowhere. And the boss is
like, you been here for three years and you been doing a good job. Now keep on
doing it and you gonna be here for another three.
Some of these younger pimps who seek to maximize and master both worlds seek a
version of the American Dream. Jason reports that he has been effectively saving money and
attending college, and he has elaborate, if impracticable, plans to master both, resulting in his
idea of living an opulent but also sophisticated lifestyle.
Interviewer: In five years what do you see yourself doing?
Jason: I’m trying to be self-employed, man. I wanna own two businesses. And a
condo.
Interviewer: You’re gonna do all of it?
Jason: That’s my goal. Man, I got enough for the store. Right now, I got a couple
hundreds, hundred thousand (dollars) stacked up (saved). But for the condo,
man. That’s what I wanna get first. I wanna get my main place. I want my
own spot. Like I could call mines. Know what I mean? Now me I wanted to
be official. I want a piano in my shit type shit, I want like carpets, cashmere
carpets. Understand? I want to live good type. You know what I mean.
…So, I’m not gonna quit no time soon. Know what I mean, stack, know
what I mean.
206 HORNING ET AL.
Interviewer: You want some nice stuff.
Jason: Half a mill mark, something. You know.
Jason does sound like he has internalized consumerist, mainstream American
values like accumulating money and status, but he yearns for an “official” life replete not only
with luxury but with symbols of high culture such as a piano and fancy carpets. Although such
goals may be grandiose, the details of his fantasies shed light on his values, motives, and interior
emotional attachments. His main imaginings are not just about simple financial gain, but also
aesthetics and something much more emotionally palpable than the process by which money is
earned.
Despite their at-risk statuses, many of these young pimps pride themselves on skillfully
navigating both worlds, and, in some cases, while skating over dangerous boundaries without so
much as a scratch. More often, these younger pimps seem unbothered by their at-risk status and
undeterred by social and cultural barriers. While their talk of economic solvency comes from
positions of outsiderness based on raced and classed identities, some of these pimps could be
considered insiders because they are currently college men, or at least feel they can be included
by eventually becoming businessmen in formal markets.
LIMITATIONS
This study is based on the lower echelon pimps who experience advanced
marginalization as described by Wacquant (2008). The pathways and the discursive themes that
emerged in the findings may not be applicable to pimps in higher strata of the market. Weitzer
(2009) discusses how the sex market is segmented based on race, ethnicity, and class. This lower
echelon sample of pimps ascribe particular meanings to their work. Their heightened emphasis
on money-making may not be evident in accounts by middle to upper echelon actors in the
market. Many participants in this sample straddle both markets, which was linked to themes of
earning a basic living wage and maximizing, but there are also social and emotional reasons to
engage in pimping that might be more common in other echelons. The accounts in this sample do
highlight profit over all other motives, which reflects their advanced marginalization.
Generalizations based on this sample may not be made to the overall population of pimps, whose
backgrounds and contexts vary substantially.
The main demographic difference within this group is age, and variation in this sample
was often based on this distinction. However, many of the older pimps in the sample reflected on
their early years, and some of their experiences and sentiments were parallel to themes that came
up in younger pimps’ accounts. The variation in the results by age group could be due to
different stages in developmental trajectories. This could only be verified by following the group
of younger pimps longitudinally. Some of the younger pimps portrayed themselves as confident
and as able to access to both worlds, but this may reflect of lack of experience in licit worlds and
the overconfidence of the young.
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DISCUSSION
In this sample, pimps’ accounts of their economic pathways from pimping to licit, illicit,
or a combination of licit and illicit work are crucial to understanding how they perceive
themselves within both economies. As described, there are various reasons for pimping, which
range from survival to fantasized or real economic gain. Some pimps’ motivations are aligned
with mainstream consumerist agendas, including money-making in the all-encompassing
economy. For others, this labor is a pathway to attaining higher status. The idea of a higher status
connects to aesthetics, ranging from having teenage status symbols such as the hottest sneakers
to a home replete with middle- to upper-class items. In this sample, accounts of pimping involve
both an economic motivation and the feelings associated with higher status, such as being
"badass" at a local level and feeling more independent from socio-structural constraints (in line
with oppositional theory). This is similar to other findings about illicit laborers and how they feel
outsiderness (Anderson, 2000; Bourgois, 2002). In future studies, the feelings associated with
success in illicit and licit economies should be explored more in depth.
In this sample, it is evident that these pimps are aware of their presumed outsiderness and
at-risk status when they talk about their positions in the U.S. economy. Many of the younger
pimps describe the actual boundary between illicit and licit activities as quite eroded, in line with
Matza’s idea of delinquency and drift. While some of the younger men in this study saw
boundaries and even barriers between themselves and opportunity, many did not seem to feel
that it was as pronounced as depicted in the ‘dual-city’ hypothesis, where there is an
“underworld” that is more distinctly demarcated (physically, mentally, and ideologically). We
are not proposing that there are no boundaries, but it is striking that many young pimps did not
construct their accounts this way. Alternatively, older pimps who straddled worlds often sought
to keep them separate, indicating that they see a bifurcation. Instead of feeling mastery, they
expressed a discursive theme of struggling to survive and straddling both worlds more out of
necessity.
Many of these older pimps describe feeling like outsiders with subpar possibilities
outside of the illicit world, or lowly positions in the licit sector. Due to their age, many discuss
already having prior felony convictions that have precluded them from good, licit job
opportunities in New York City. Some were educated in prison and used these opportunities to
quit pimping. Because some of them were given a free education and attained it in a correctional
facility, their accounts are grounded in desistence and reform rhetoric. This style of reform
discourse has been reported in studies of ex-offenders who have undergone correctional
treatment (Maruna, 2001). Even though many older pimps are more invested in pimping and
outsider positions, many of those who quit did so because of the removal of educational or
employment barriers. In terms of future generations of lower echelon pimps, some of the current
issues facing those identified as felons may change as prisoner reentry strategies change.
The street-based, public pimping that many of the older participants describe is more
reflective of outsiderness and oppositional crime. In this sample, younger and older pimps
disparage “straight” work in menial positions and focus on the hustle and fast-money, showing
subcultural narratives or gangster discourse. However, Matza’s requirement of publicness as a
criterion for subcultural crime is an important point, as counter-culture without the contrast of
the mainstream may have little potency. These younger pimps rarely work in visible
208 HORNING ET AL.
neighborhood areas. Based on differences in how the younger and older pimps work, the young
may change the outsiderness that has historically been a part of pimping. Younger pimps, despite
their at-risk status, seem to have several distinct advantages in moving between licit and illicit
worlds. Among them are technological savvy and attributes such as versatility that go hand-in-
hand not only with being postmodern but with being millennial or Gen Z. They try to make both
worlds work for them, and their accounts may portend future trends toward fluidity and mobility
between worlds.
Despite age, many pimps in this study express at-risk discourse in line with Sandberg’s
oppression and gangster discourse, but with mainstream and oppositional orientations,
respectively. Sandberg found that non-white, Norwegian drug dealers showed similar
interdiscursivity, using both types of discourse in single accounts, which indicates conformity
and oppositionality to mainstream culture. Oppression’ and ‘gangster’ discourses are at-risk
discourses showing that these pimps are experiencing ‘advanced marginalization’ (Wacquant,
2008). Some of the younger pimps in this study demonstrate a third type of discourse — one of
versatility and even mastery of both the illicit and licit markets. This perceived mastery differs
from the Mertonian goals of achieving cultural goals such as money-making, but through illegal
channels, because many of these young men also attend college and have plans to remain in the
licit and illicit sectors simultaneously. It appears that the actual boundary between illicit and licit
activity is not firm. While some of these young men see boundaries and even barriers between
themselves and opportunity, many do not seem to feel that this is so pronounced. There are
certainly real boundaries, but many do not construct their accounts this way. The actual realities
of these men’s lives cannot be verified, but one purpose of this study is to understand how they
narrate and socially construct these boundaries.
Versatility discourse aligns with Murphy and Robinson’s (2008) category of adaptation,
where people maximize their opportunities in both illicit and licit worlds. In their
conceptualization, maximizers are people who are simultaneously conformists and innovators.
They both accept the U.S. cultural goal of money-making, but they simultaneously accept and
reject the institutionalized means of making money that is, they are comfortable generating in
both economies. The accounts of pimps who were maximizers did not align singularly with
insiderness or outsiderness. Also, they not only gave accounts of insiderness (neutralization) and
outsiderness (subcultural), but they also used a ‘versatility’ discourse, which is the ability to be
in the dual-city and master that position. Whether these maximizers actually yield higher
economic returns or their claims are braggadocio could be tested in future studies to see how
their perceptions mesh with reality.
The older pimps who occupied both illicit and licit worlds describe doing so primarily to
make a basic living wage. A common theme in their accounts is that their prospects in the licit
markets were so poor that they supplemented this through illicit work, including other hustles.
They are maximizers, but only in the sense that they are maximizing within the boundaries that
are possible for them. Their discussions of being in both worlds were not empowered or centered
on versatility, but mostly reflected the inability to make a basic living wage in only one market.
For future research, younger pimps should be followed longitudinally to determine if
their accounts of insiderness, outsiderness or versatility change over time. With more interactions
in both the licit and illicit economies as they age, their perspectives may change. Younger pimps
JQCJC VOLUME 7 ISSUE 3 (SPRING 2019)
may find more barriers in the licit sector, or they may quit pimping for more conventional
activities. More time spent in a profession such as pimping may solidify identification with a
criminal lifestyle and increase outsider accounts. Also, understanding the trajectory of pimping
over the life-course may yield important information about how pimps traverse, straddle or
manage work in both economies, and how these changes affect their attitudes about the
mainstream and foster different discursivities at various developmental ages.
The experiences and related discourse of both younger and older pimps in this study may
be applied to desistence models tailored to those pimps with similar backgrounds. Many states
require that those convicted of domestic sex trafficking or modern-day pimping join the sex
offender registry, and some require sex offender treatment (Williamson & Marcus, 2017).
Understanding how typical lower-echelon pimps interface with the economy, their motivations
for getting into the work and their orientations to cultural values would help us understand their
diverse motives and allow treatment providers to tailor more effective corrective interventions
for this population. As of 2010, more than 60% of those prosecuted for domestic sex trafficking
in the U.S. were African-American males (Banks and Kyckelhahn, 2011), so those with
convictions may have similar demographics as the pimps in this sample. However, there are
many distinct types of pimps and domestic sex traffickers, so this kind of discursive analysis
should be tested on different types of pimps in different contexts.
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... The most evident victims in the prevention and protection equation are the sex trafficking victims (see, Finigan-Carr et al., 2019), but juvenile SMFs have similar risk profiles. Therefore, we assert that prevention plans should include everyone involved in the domestic sex trafficking equation, especially considering that, on average, SMFs enter the sex trade in their teenage years (Horning et al., 2019;Stalans & Finn, 2018). ...
... When a young person is indoctrinated into sex market facilitation in middle or high school or attending community college, their peers are at risk for recruitment. Youth in low SES neighborhoods often come together to survive or seek money for clothes or other teenage items (Horning et al., 2019). Those who learn from family may ask friends to engage in sex work or solicit friends to be clients. ...
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Breaking with the exoticizing cast of public discourse and conventional research, Urban Outcasts takes the reader inside the black ghetto of Chicago and the deindustrializing banlieue of Paris to discover that urban marginality is not everywhere the same. Drawing on a wealth of original field, survey and historical data, Loïc Wacquant shows that the involution of America's urban core after the 1960s is due not to the emergence of an 'underclass', but to the joint withdrawal of market and state fostered by public policies of racial separation and urban abandonment. In European cities, by contrast, the spread of districts of 'exclusion' does not herald the formation of ghettos. It stems from the decomposition of working-class territories under the press of mass unemployment, the casualization of work and the ethnic mixing of populations hitherto segregated, spawning urban formations akin to 'anti-ghettos'.Comparing the US 'Black Belt' with the French 'Red Belt' demonstrates that state structures and policies play a decisive role in the articulation of class, race and place on both sides of the Atlantic. It also reveals the crystallization of a new regime of marginality fuelled by the fragmentation of wage labour, the retrenchment of the social state and the concentration of dispossessed categories in stigmatized areas bereft of a collective idiom of identity and claims-making. These defamed districts are not just the residual 'sinkholes' of a bygone economic era, but also the incubators of the precarious proletariat emerging under neoliberal capitalism.Urban Outcasts sheds new light on the explosive mix of mounting misery, stupendous affluence and festering street violence resurging in the big cities of the First World. By specifying the different causal paths and experiential forms assumed by relegation in the American and the French metropolis, this book offers indispensable tools for rethinking urban marginality and for reinvigorating the public debate over social inequality and citizenship at century's dawn.