Masters of Craft: Old Jobs in the New Urban Economy

Why are upscale versions of traditional manufacturing and service jobs considered hip, desirable, and cool? Ocejo, a sociology professor, examines the “urban village model” that has revitalized urban areas. He looks at four elements of gentrification—craft breweries, barber shops, whole-animal butcher shops, and cocktail bars. According to Ocejo, the upscale versions of these traditional crafts and services represent “a new form of luxury” replacing the traditional form of luxury consumption—opera, haute French restaurants—with a new form that mixes “interactive service with cultural knowledge and omnivorous tastes.” Using his own field experiences and interviews with business owners and workers, the author identifies transformations in the U.S. cultural elite that have led to this new service economy, one that is strikingly male-dominated. He uses Chelsea Market in Manhattan as an example of how the reappearance of businesses formerly considered essential, but not prestigious, in exclusive and expensive form mirrors the gentrification of the neighborhoods that once supported them in their previous incarnations. The book reads well, but not easily. It is academic in tone and scrupulously detailed. Sociologists and others with a serious interest in hipster culture will learn much from it. [em](May) [/em]