Llewellyn, Nick and Burrow, Robin. (2008) Streetwise sales and the social order of city streets. British Journal of Sociology, Vol.59 (No.3). pp. 561-583. ISSN 0007-1315

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Abstract

This paper analyses how a Big Issue vendor approached passers-by and how they responded, how recognizable courses of social and economic activity were interactionally produced from initiation through to some conclusion. The paper recovers how the vendor's work was contextually embedded in the urban landscape, how it was constrained by, and actively shaped, the social order of the street. Drawing on video-audio recordings the paper contributes to a growing body of ethnographic and ethnomethodological research which has emphasized the embodied, contingent and interactional character of economic activity. By examining such materials, the paper is well positioned to describe how the vendor found his market on the street, social interventions that propelled passers-by into buying behaviour. The paper sheds light on now familiar encounters which occur millions of times each week in the UK and beyond.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Industrial Relations & Organisational Behaviour Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Big issue, Street vendors, Ethnomethodology, Periodical vendors, Markets
Journal or Publication Title:	British Journal of Sociology
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
ISSN:	0007-1315
Date:	September 2008
Volume:	Vol.59
Number:	No.3
Number of Pages:	23
Page Range:	pp. 561-583
Identification Number:	10.1111/j.1468-4446.2008.00208.x
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
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URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/29490

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