This powerful study immerses the reader in the world of homelessness and drug addiction in the contemporary
United States. For over a decade Philippe Bourgois and Jeff Schonberg followed a social network of two dozen heroin
injectors and crack smokers on the streets of San Francisco, accompanying them as they scrambled to generate income
through burglary, panhandling, recycling, and day labor. Righteous Dopefiend interweaves stunning black-and-white
photographs with vivid dialogue, detailed field notes, and critical theoretical analysis. Its gripping narrative
develops a cast of characters around the themes of violence, race relations, sexuality, family trauma, embodied
suffering, social inequality, and power relations. The result is a dispassionate chronicle of survival, loss, caring,
and hope rooted in the addicts' determination to hang on for one more day and one more "fix" through
a "moral economy of sharing" that precariously balances mutual solidarity and interpersonal betrayal.
Table of Contents
Introduction: A Theory of Lumpen Abuse
1. Intimate Apartheid 2. Falling in Love 3. A Community of Addicted Bodies 4. Childhoods 5. Making Money 6. Parenting 7. Male Love 8. Everyday Addicts 9. Treatment
Conclusion: Critically Applied Public Anthropology References Notes on the Photographs Acknowledgments