Response To Sidewalk Duneier

An objection that Willse has to Sidewalk by Duneier is the subjectivity that we can see throughout the book. Willis says that Duneier makes four chapter that is dedicated to “indecent behavior-sexual harassment of when and urination in public. However, Duneier does not make it seem that his subjects may also do this he says things to make it seem like they had no other choice. For example, Duneier explains the reasoning for public urination as that they had no other place to go pee. He does not scrutinize his subjects for what they do, rather than use the excuse that there relationship to women, their sleeping habits and their drug and alcohol consumption all happen somewhere else that is not the sidewalk, so those parts of their lives are

I do believe that Duneier is being subjective is certain aspects of his research. I believe that he holds the subjects that he is interviewing at a higher standard, so it makes what he writes have a bit of his opinion and thoughts. He can pick and choose what he puts in. In the example of public urination, Willse describes what he wrote, in the way that he does mention that his subjects do urinate in public but not in a scrutinizing way, the reason on why is because his subject’s relation to women, family, and drugs all happen beyond the sidewalk and the boundaries that Duneier places. So, this means that they do not get scrutinized. This is something that I feel like I have an issue with. The things that he is not scrutinizing them for or judging them for, don't mean that they don't do it, it doesn't mean that they are a better person than everyone else that he is scrutinizing. Not mentioning it doesn’t take away that they did it. By not saying it, it makes his subjects be seen as decent people. Although they might be decent people, there are a lot of things that do not happen on the sidewalk but very much decides who they turn out to be. And by not doing this he is putting his subjects at a standard, which is not