How educated and culturally savvy young people are transforming traditionally low-status manual labor jobs into elite taste-making occupations In today's new economy--in which "good" jobs are typically knowledge or technology based--many well-educated and culturally savvy young men are instead choosing to pursue traditionally low-status manual labor occupations as careers. Masters of Craft looks at the renaissance of four such trades: bartending, distilling, barbering, and butchering. In this in-depth and engaging book, Richard Ocejo takes you into the lives and workplaces of these people to examine how they are transforming these once-undesirable jobs into "cool" and highly specialized upscale occupational niches--and in the process complicating our notions about upward and downward mobility through work. He shows how they find meaning in these jobs by enacting a set of "cultural repertoires," which include technical skills based on a renewed sense of craft and craftsmanship and an ability to understand and communicate that knowledge to others, resulting in a new form of elite taste-making. Ocejo describes the paths people take to these jobs, how they learn their chosen trades, how they imbue their work practices with craftsmanship, and how they teach a sense of taste to their consumers. Focusing on cocktail bartenders, craft distillers, upscale men's barbers, and whole-animal butcher shop workers in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and upstate New York, Masters of Craft provides new insights into the stratification of taste, gentrification, and the evolving labor market in today's postindustrial city.

About the Author
Richard E. Ocejo is associate professor of sociology at John Jay College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. His books include Upscaling Downtown: From Bowery Saloons to Cocktail Bars in New York City (Princeton).

Reviews
"A sociologist walks in a bar ... and discovers the soul of a new economy ... Mr. Ocejo has a good eye and ear. He has talked to a lot of people. And his book is full of acutely heard and closely observed details."--William L. Hamilton, Wall Street Journal "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... 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... Sociologists and others with a serious interest in hipster culture will learn much from it."--Publishers Weekly "[Ocejo] engagingly portrays several workers, tracing their motivations for choosing a job, their satisfactions and challenges, and plans for their futures. A close-up and often entertaining look at new service jobs in an urban economy."--Kirkus "A fascinating book, full of valuable observations and insights. Particularly impressive is the way it captures the distinctive atmospheres of these jobs."--William Skidelsky, Financial Times "I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in the evolution of labor markets, how America will respond to ongoing automation, the production of status, and the role of men in an increasingly feminized society."--Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution



Book Information
ISBN 9780691165493
Author Richard E. Ocejo
Format Hardback
Page Count 368
Imprint Princeton University Press
Publisher Princeton University Press
Weight(grams) 652g