Pimps of Harlem: Talk of Labor and the Sociology of Risk

This dissertation examines how third-party labor is socially constructed by pimps or third parties. Pimps and their labor are investigated using sociological paradigms of risk. Risk is defined as exposure to danger (Beck, 1992; Giddens, 1991) and can produce negative or positive feelings and outcomes (Lupton, 1999). I explore how third-party labor is connected to risk with the following research questions: 1) How does the U.S. media portray third parties as risky, and how does this influence proposed remedies to this social problem? 2) How do third parties\u27 at-risk status impact their role in illicit and licit economies? 3) How do third parties\u27 social networks influence their business practices, and how do these nexuses impact the riskiness of the work? and 4) How do third parties perceive their voluntary, work-related risk-taking as positive? I chose this population of lower-echelon pimps because they are present in the public imagination in two ways. First, since the 1970s the ghetto pimp has been depicted through Blaxploitation films such as SuperFly and The Mack and by the news media as flashy, dangerous predators within ghetto landscapes. Second, since the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) (2000), many pimps legally qualify as sex traffickers. This legal conflation, combined with the policy agenda of abolitionists and anti-traffickers, shapes a cultural image of pimps as a new, global danger. Because these lower-echelon pimps have been written and are being re-written into the history of the sex trade, their overlooked stories are more important than ever. The findings show that the U.S. news media portrays third parties as predatory, omnipresent, and organized. This is likely to reflect the kind of risk knowledge, or public idea about who is at-risk and who is risky (Douglas, 1985), in commercial sex markets. Overall, pimps are branded as quite dangerous -- not only in ghetto landscapes, but also on Main Street. The proposed remedies to this social problem are generally punitive solutions, which do not address the roots of this problem, such as poverty. The social context of this sample of pimps is akin to Loic Wacquant\u27s description of advanced marginalization, where due to poverty and being relegated to ghettos, this group experiences extreme deprivation at the margins. Third parties\u27 social constructivist accounts of their labor shows how they view their at-risk status in relation to social and economic boundaries. Younger third parties (18 to 23 years old) move more seamlessly across licit and illicit boundaries in line with David Matza\u27s (1964) theory of drift, whereas older pimps are more confined to illicit spheres and speak from subcultural positions. This is further reflected in how their accounts differ: while older pimps tend to use at-risk discourse to explain their motivation to pimp, younger pimps have a bicultural discourse in which they use not only at-risk discourse, but also discourse about mastering both worlds. In terms of the dangers of their work in illicit sectors, pimps\u27 existing social networks play a role in how they perform this labor. This is especially true of younger pimps, who tend to work with friends or family. More insular work networks make this work less risky. Compared to older pimps, younger third parties tend to use less violence with sex workers and clients, and they are not as controlling about their businesses. In contrast, older pimps more commonly work outdoors and with stranger clients, so they have to embody violence and control. They do, however, have more close-knit social relationships with sex workers. Working with stranger clients and having pseudo-family work networks may play a role in older pimps\u27 more lucrative economic returns, but some of these differences may be attributed to differences in age, such as maturity, youth\u27s reliance on technology for communication, and their insular social networks based on homophily (sameness). Pimping involves voluntary risk-taking that can produce positive feelings and outcomes. In line with Stephen Lyng\u27s idea of edgework, pimps engage in risk and its successful navigation, which results in feelings of control through mastering danger or escaping from social controls. Older pimps more often successfully run dangerous businesses, whereas younger third parties more often suspend social controls through carnivalesque or worlds turned upside down (derived from Bakhtin, 1984) parties. Because of their at-risk status and gender, race, and class positions, third parties approach risk differently than more traditional edgeworkers. Some marginalized males flirt with the edge from a subcultural position. Yet edgework can facilitate a form of hegemonic masculinity, but with simultaneous resistance to raced and classed positions. This connects to hustler embodiment, where slickness and abilities with money and girls are exaggerated. This brand of hypermasculinity may be the result of being at the margins and wanting to outperform those at the center. Unlike traditional edgework, which results in feelings of authenticity, pimps\u27 outperformance is a way of resisting mainstream culture. This dissertation is one of the first empirical studies of third parties to explore how they not only perceive the dangers of their work, but also how they interpret the meaning of their work from marginalized socio-structural positions and risk orientations

An Experimental Test of Controls on Resource Exchange in an Ectomycorrhizal Mutualism

Models of resource exchange mutualisms utilize economic principles to explain how the costs and benefits of these interactions vary with environmental context. All of these models use a ratio of resource exchange (e.g., nitrogen: carbon) as the central variable, and it is unclear whether such exchange ratios predict outcomes of mutualisms in natural systems. Corrêa et al. (2008) hypothesized instead that the absolute flux of the most limiting nutrient, rather than the ratio of the two exchanged resources, best explains the benefits of resource exchange mutualisms. To distinguish between these two competing hypotheses, we measured resource transfers, and their ratios, between Pinus taeda seedlings and two ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungal species, Rhizopogon roseolus and Pisolithus arhizus. We evaluated how carbon availability to plants (manipulated with high and low light exposure) affected those resource fluxes and ratios over 3 time periods (10, 20 and 30 weeks) using mycocosms in environmental chambers. Our results suggest that higher light availability increases resource exchange between mycorrhizal mutualists, and that N:C resource exchange ratios are higher under low light, but that limiting soil nutrients have a stronger effect on plant growth than resource exchange ratios. These results suggest that the “exchange ratio hypothesis,” and the “total flux hypothesis” are both correct in their predictions, implying that when mycorrhizal plants have additional C to trade to their mycorrhizal fungi, it has the potential to promote an increase in nutrients to the plant in return, changing the price of exchange without detriment to either mutualist

Research shows that minor sex trafficking narratives do not reflect the experience of many domestic sex workers

Sex trafficking laws assume that all underage sex workers are exploited young girls who have been forced into such work by a vicious pimp. But does this actually reflect the experience of most young, domestic sex workers? Using ethnographic research from Atlantic City and New York City, Anthony Marcus and Amber Horning find that underage sex workers have much more agency in their relationships with pimps than many assume, and that sex trafficking discourses may serve to further alienate them from organizations to assist them. The authors call for academics and policy makers alike to set aside their ideological positions about sex work and to seek a deeper understanding of young people in commercial sex markets

Oblivious ‘Sex Traffickers’: Challenging stereotypes and the fairness of US trafficking laws

In this paper, we explore third parties who unexpectedly fell within the legal definition of a sex trafficker. The anti-trafficking lobby and media stories frequently portray traffickers as organised, psychopathic, violent, and child kidnappers. We dismantle these depictions by showing the unexpected people who qualify as traffickers. This paper incorporates findings from two studies involving eighty-five third parties in New York City and forty-nine in Chicago. We analyse how teenagers, drivers, and boyfriends qualify as traffickers under US law. We find that two-thirds of them hold inaccurate views about the difference between sex trafficking and facilitating prostitution. Trafficking can be incidental or temporary, and traffickers in these samples were often oblivious to their legal status, potentially resulting in lengthy prison sentences. We conclude by calling for differential sentencing based on traffickers’ age, and awareness campaigns designed to alert third parties of the legal distinctions between pandering and sex trafficking

Phylogenetically structured traits in root systems influence arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization in woody angiosperms

Background and aim: There is little quantitative information about the relationship between root traits and the extent of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) colonization. We expected that ancestral species with thick roots will maximize AMF habitat by maintaining similar root traits across root orders (i.e., high root trait integration), whereas more derived species are expected to display a sharp transition from acquisition to structural roots. Moreover, we hypothesized that interspecific morphological differences rather than soil conditions will be the main driver of AMF colonization. Methods: We analyzed 14 root morphological and chemical traits and AMF colonization rates for the first three root orders of 34 temperate tree species grown in two common gardens. We also collected associated soil to measure the effect of soil conditions on AMF colonization. Results: Thick-root magnoliids showed less variation in root traits along root orders than more-derived angiosperm groups. Variation in stele:root diameter ratio was the best indicator of AMF colonization within and across root orders. Root functional traits rather than soil conditions largely explained the variation in AMF colonization among species. Conclusions: Not only the traits of first order but the entire structuring of the root system varied among plant lineages, suggesting alternative evolutionary strategies of resource acquisition. Understanding evolutionary pathways in belowground organs could open new avenues to understand tree species influence on soil carbon and nutrient cycling. © 2016, Springer International Publishing Switzerland

Pulsatilla patens (Ranunculaceae), a perennial herb, is ectomycorrhizal in northeastern Poland and likely shares ectomycorrhizal fungi with Pinus sylvestris

The sharing of species of ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) among different co-occurring host plant species could allow the formation of common mycorrhizal networks, which can alter plant–plant interactions and succession. Such sharing of EMF among woody species is thought to be common in many forests, but very few herbaceous plants form EMF, so they are assumed to be excluded from EMF networks in forests. We studied the EMF on roots of a common coniferous tree, Pinus sylvestris, and a co-occurring rare herbaceous perennial plant, Pulsatilla patens (Ranunculaceae), in northeastern Poland. We examined roots from co-occuring P. sylvestris and P. patens, visually classified EMF into morphotypes, studied tissue sections of mycorrhizal structures using compound microscopy, and used DNA sequencing to identify the fungi. On both host plant species, we observed EMF colonization, with colonized root tips exhibiting a swollen appearance, as well as a variety of colors and textures of fungal mycelium covering and emanating from those swollen tips. Sectioning and microscopic examination of an EMF morphotype common on P. patens confirmed the presence of a mantle and Hartig net, indicating the likely presence of functional ectomycorrhizal structures. The two most frequent EMF were Cenococcum geophilum and Piloderma olivaceum, and the latter was found to associate with both host plant species. Several EMF found here only on P. patens, including C. geophilum and two Russula species, are known from previous studies to also associate with P. sylvestris and other tree species. The observation of shared EMF between a coniferous tree and an understory herb indicates the potential for common mycorrhizal networks to alter interactions between these two species and may also indicate a unique way in which the distribution and abundance of a rare herbaceous plant may be influenced by shared mutualisms with a common co-occurring woody plant

Arbuscular mycorrhizal tree communities have greater soil fungal diversity and relative abundances of saprotrophs and pathogens than ectomycorrhizal tree communities

Trees associating with different mycorrhizas often differ in their effects on litter decomposition, nutrient cycling, soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics, and plant-soil interactions. For example, due to differences between arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and ectomycorrhizal (ECM) tree leaf and root traits, ECM-associated soil has slower rates of C and N cycling and lower N availability compared to AM-associated soil. These observations suggest many groups of non-mycorrhizal fungi should be affected by the mycorrhizal associations of dominant trees through controls on nutrient availability. To test this overarching hypothesis, we explored the influence of predominant forest mycorrhizal type and mineral N availability on soil fungal communities using next-generation amplicon sequencing. Soils from four temperate hardwood forests in Southern Indiana, USA, were studied; three forests formed a natural gradient of mycorrhizal dominance (100% AM tree basal area - 100% ECM basal area), while the fourth forest contained a factorial experiment testing long-term N addition in both dominant mycorrhizal types. We found that overall fungal diversity, as well as the diversity and relative abundance of plant pathogenic and saprotrophic fungi, increased with greater AM tree dominance. Additionally, tree community mycorrhizal associations explained more variation in fungal community composition than abiotic variables, including soil depth, SOM content, nitrification rate, and mineral N availability. Our findings suggest that tree mycorrhizal associations may be good predictors of the diversity, composition, and functional potential of soil fungal communities in temperate hardwood forests. These observations help explain differing biogeochemistry and community dynamics found in forest stands dominated by differing mycorrhizal types. Our work explores how differing mycorrhizal associations of temperate hardwood trees (i.e., arbuscular (AM) vs ectomycorrhizal (ECM) associations) affect soil fungal communities by altering the diversity and relative abundance of saprotrophic and plant pathogenic fungi along natural gradients of mycorrhizal dominance. Because temperate hardwood forests are predicted to become more AM-dominant with climate change, studies examining soil communities along mycorrhizal gradients are necessary to understand how these global changes may alter future soil fungal communities and their functional potential. Ours, along with other recent studies, identify possible global trends in the frequency of specific fungal functional groups responsible for nutrient cycling and plant-soil interactions as they relate to mycorrhizal associations

Pulsatilla patens (Ranunculaceae), a perennial herb, is ectomycorrhizal in northeastern Poland and likely shares ectomycorrhizal fungi with Pinus sylvestris

The sharing of species of ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) among different co-occurring host plant species could allow the formation of common mycorrhizal networks, which can alter plant–plant interactions and succession. Such sharing of EMF among woody species is thought to be common in many forests, but very few herbaceous plants form EMF, so they are assumed to be excluded from EMF networks in forests. We studied the EMF on roots of a common coniferous tree, Pinus sylvestris, and a co-occurring rare herbaceous perennial plant, Pulsatilla patens (Ranunculaceae), in northeastern Poland. We examined roots from co-occuring P. sylvestris and P. patens, visually classified EMF into morphotypes, studied tissue sections of mycorrhizal structures using compound microscopy, and used DNA sequencing to identify the fungi. On both host plant species, we observed EMF colonization, with colonized root tips exhibiting a swollen appearance, as well as a variety of colors and textures of fungal mycelium covering and emanating from those swollen tips. Sectioning and microscopic examination of an EMF morphotype common on P. patens confirmed the presence of a mantle and Hartig net, indicating the likely presence of functional ectomycorrhizal structures. The two most frequent EMF were Cenococcum geophilum and Piloderma olivaceum, and the latter was found to associate with both host plant species. Several EMF found here only on P. patens, including C. geophilum and two Russula species, are known from previous studies to also associate with P. sylvestris and other tree species. The observation of shared EMF between a coniferous tree and an understory herb indicates the potential for common mycorrhizal networks to alter interactions between these two species and may also indicate a unique way in which the distribution and abundance of a rare herbaceous plant may be influenced by shared mutualisms with a common co-occurring woody plant