Assessing the Risk of Inattention to Class, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender: Comment on Lyng

• Published in: The American journal of sociology 1991-05, Vol.96 (6), p.1530-1534
• Main Authors: Miller, Eleanor M., Lyng, Stephen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Commentary and Debate; Ethnic Studies; Ethnicity; Gender; Minority Groups; Postindustrial Societies; Race; Race Relations; Risk; Risk Assessment; Sex Differences; Social Class; Social Classes; Theoretical Problems
• ISSN: 0002-9602; 1537-5390
• DOI: 10.1086/229696

It is argued that Stephen Lyng's theorizing on the nature & etiology of "edgework" in postindustrial society (see SA 38:3/90V5505) is problematic due to inattention to class, race/ethnicity, & gender; in particular, his examples of risky behaviors are determined to be working white male activities. Here, African-American female street hustlers are presented as an example of an ethnic female group that can be better understood through the edgework model. It is suggested that Lyng's analysis should be directed to those structures within postindustrial capitalist society that give rise not only to class oppression but also to oppression of women & racial/ethnic minorities. In Edgework Revisited: Reply to Miller, Lyng (Virginia Commonwealth U, Richmond) indicates how Miller's example of street hustlers & other oppressed groups can be integrated into the existing Marxian-Meadian framework. Assumptions & implicit arguments in Miller's critique are discussed, & it is argued that the earlier analysis was not inattentive to class, & that later articles deal with minority groups & the underclass (eg, see Lyng, "Criminal Behavior as Edgework," in Bell, R. W. [Ed], Current Issues and New Directions in Risk Taking: Research and Intervention, Lubbock: Texas Tech U Press, 1991). D. Dennis