Workin' Hard for the Money: The Social and Economic Lives of Women Drug Sellers

by Ira Brant Sommers, Ira Summers

This book examines women's participation in the cocaine/crack economy of New York City. All the women are or were long-term drug dealers, not those who casually dealt drugs. In order to be included in the authors' study, a person had to have sold drugs for at least two years. Many of the respondents were involved in drug distribution for considerably longer periods. Thus, the voices heard here are of those who had substantial drug selling careers. The authors' seek to describe the lives of women drug dealers - not so much from their point of view, as from the women's own. In the research undertaken, they sought to listen to the women and understand the cultural perspectives through which they created their lives. Thus, the women are represented as responsive subjects and present their world as close as possible to how they saw it. Throughout the book, the women describe their experiences through their own vernacular.

182 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2000