Sumo Wrestlers Book Report

When it comes to humans, we can be very selfish. We want to succeed, and for many of us, our success is weighed in our financial status. Many people don’t mind being a “little” dishonest when it comes to gaining this success without it effecting their self evaluated moral status. When it comes to money people are more willing than you would expect to nudge their way forward.
In this book we are presented with two separate but connected groups, School teachers and Sumo wrestlers. On one hand, you have teachers who have an economic incentive to produce high test scores from their students. If the teachers prove to have high test scores, they are considered to be good teachers and have the chance to receive a 25,000 dollar bonus. With sumo wrestlers,
A man named Sudhir Venkatesh conducted thorough research on this gang, spending years along side them learning the ins and outs of how they conduct their way of life. The widespread “conventional” belief was that crack cocaine selling gang members where living wild, lavish lifestyles, rolling in wealth. In reality, this was very different. A very small fraction of the gang made exceptional income, according to the text, “The top 120 men in the Black Disciples gang represented just 2.2 percent of the full-fledged gang membership but took home well more than half of the money.” So, we see that just like a giant corporation like McDonalds you have a major hierarchy in the distribution of wealth. In the gangs you have your major leaders, then officers, then foot soldiers, and lastly rank-and-file members. In McDonalds you have the same type of positions, the big suits making big money, the average business men making good money, the managers making decent money, and lastly the “burger-flippers” making minimum wage. The crack cocaine business is surprisingly just that, a
With the boom of crack cocaine business was as good as it could get. The gangsters who typically moved on from that lifestyle to support a family are now staying. There used to be little money to be made in gangster lifestyle. Men like J.T., the leader of the Black Disciple group Venkatesh studied, have degrees in business but make more money than they ever would working behind a desk. J.T. used his business experience and knowledge into the drug world. There is a stronger economic incentive for African American people who have grown up around the drug and gang culture to stay and make it their lifestyle. Aside from the danger, the biggest difference in structure from being in a gang and working for McDonalds is the