In Jakarta, according to Simone, the urbanmajority is neither poor nor middle class.The urban majority still mostly lives in thekampungs, cobbling together income fromjobs in the formal sector as well as less for-mal and ‘‘off the books’’ economic activitiessuch as providing rental accommodations,running small businesses, selling services,and other schemes. One of Simone’s keypoints is that this urban majority to a greatextent shapes the city—through their indi-vidual and collective initiatives, their crea-tivity and entrepreneurialism, and mostimportantly, their diversity and plurality.Anyone who has lived in Jakarta will recog-nize this group. It is an important concept,given the recent heralding of the rise of themiddle class in Asia. Indeed, some estimatesof Indonesia’s middle class put it at as muchas 74 million out of the country’s total popu-lation of 240 million. But, as Simone notes,the Asian Development Bank defines ‘‘mid-dle class’’ in Asia as a consumption level ofbetween $2 and $20 a day—a massive range,the lower end of which barely covers basicneeds in a city like Jakarta. Unfortunately,Simone does not tell us what percentage ofJakarta’s population falls into this in-between category, how their incomes andspending compare to the actual middleclass, and other data points that might beuseful even for those with a strong qualita-tive bent.

Simone concludes the book with sugges-tions for democratizing the policy processand getting the urban majority more trulyinvolved. He discusses some of the hugechallenges that any urban development inJakarta faces—especially the colossal levelsof corruption, the uncertainty of land owner-ship in much of the city, and the absence ofcitizen involvement in city governance. Yet,like many cities in the global South, Jakartais a place where daily life can be a trial,even for the affluent. The traffic has been rat-ed the worst in the world, mainly because thecity has minimal public transit. AlthoughJakarta is finally building a much-neededunderground rail system, the first leg is notexpected to be operational until at least2018, and the system will be limited. Airquality is bad, the city’s rivers and canalsare fetid, deforestation and overdevelop-ment in surrounding mountain areas have

contributed to massive flooding problems,and, as the city is on a flood plain, the sea lev-el rise caused by global warming posesa major threat in the coming decades. Oneof the reasons large apartment complexeshave proved so alluring is that many Jakartaneighborhoods are simply squalid. With lim-ited trash collection and open sewers in someareas, even middle-class dwellings are ofteninfested with rats and cockroaches. Withsome of the world’s highest levels of density,there is little privacy in the kampungs. Thecity has few green spaces and almost noparks where children can play outdoors.Simone’s poetic theorizing tends to abstractfrom these realities; and because he doesnot use as many quotes from people orvignettes from everyday life as is commonin more ethnographic writing, the gritty tex-ture of everyday life in Jakarta is not alwaysfully conveyed. Nevertheless, Jakarta: Draw-ing the City Near is an important study ofa city that demands greater sociologicalattention, and Simone’s theoretical innova-tions make it worthwhile reading for anyoneinterested in urban development and poli-tics in the global South.

Fighting for Recognition: Identity, Masculinity,and the Act of Violence in Professional Wrest-ling, by R. Tyson Smith. Durham, NC:Duke University Press, 2014. 220 pp. $84.95cloth. ISBN: 9780822357223.

BRYAN SNYDER

University of Nebraska-Lincolnbmichaelphd@gmail.com

In Fighting for Recognition: Identity, Mascu-linity, and the Act of Violence in ProfessionalWrestling, R. Tyson Smith brings us intoworld of independent (‘‘indie’’) professionalwrestling. A far cry from the hugely popularWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE),indie wrestling is community-based, un-glamorous, and non-lucrative. As unspec-tacular as it is gritty and embattled, indiepro wrestling is both compelling and deeplymeaningful to its participants. The commit-ment level among members is high, evenmonastic for some, as wrestling bleedsinto other aspects of participants’ lives. Theheart of Smith’s book is analyzing this

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commitment. Fighting for Recognition is thusdriven by the central question of why theviolent performance of indie wrestling is socompelling to its participants, especiallyconsidering the associated costs (e.g. pain,ridicule, contested gender identities) andthe relatively little return in terms of prestigeand financial gain.

To explore this question, Smith conductedmore than two years of participant observa-tion and nineteen in-depth interviews withmembers of Rage Professional WrestlingSchool, a largely working-class gym locatedin the suburbs of New York City. Smithweaves the personal experiences of indiewrestlers to present a narrative showingthat participation in indie wrestling is com-pelling, by and large, because it satisfiesdeep-seated needs such as solidarity, intima-cy, and, most importantly, recognition. Afterdetailing the context and characters of RageWrestling School, Smith examines the vari-ous forms of recognition in the world of indiewrestling. He then analyzes the craft of wres-tling itself, detailing, for instance, the coordi-nated emotion work that makes the spectacleof match night a success, as well as the rolethat pain plays in matters of pride, status,and masculinity. Smith concludes with a the-oretical discussion of gender, arguing that theperformance of masculinity in indie wres-tling has a lot in common with contemporaryenactments of western masculinity, both ofwhich are performative, self-conscious,nuanced, and collaborative. In this respect,Fighting for Recognition will be of particularinterest for gender scholars and culturalsociologists. Intellectually challenging yetextremely accessible, this book would bea great option for both undergraduate andgraduate courses in relevant areas.

Like all good ethnographies, Fighting forRecognition is interesting and importantbecause of the depth and detail it brings toa little-known or, in this case, misunderstoodsubculture. Distinct from other accounts ofprofessional wrestling, Smith is focused onbringing the reader into the hearts andminds (and bodies) of the participants, thoseindividuals who ‘‘generate the spectacle’’(p. 2), so to speak. Smith’s text is intellectual-ly compelling, in part, because of what theperformance of indie wrestling reveals abouthow working-class men understand their

bodies, relationships, and identities as men.Indeed, the economy figures prominentlyin Smith’s analysis, as he positions themembers of the Rage School as casualtiesof an economic downturn. Decreased wages,diminished job security, and a devaluing ofphysical labor leave working-class bodiesin a precarious position in the modern-dayworkforce. Members express feelings ofinadequacy or even humiliation as they dis-cuss their place in the economy. Oncea source of pride and moral worth, theirworking-class identity is now contested.Indie wrestling offers them not only a breakfrom their otherwise uneventful lives, but,more importantly, an avenue for them ‘‘tobe somebody.’’ Whether working the crowdfor a ‘‘pop’’ or proving their masculineworth to their peers, Smith details how indiewrestlers put their bodies on the line in theirquest to seek validation from others. Whilethe ‘‘pop’’ (crowd response) is the heart ofpro wrestling, we come to learn that thehighest premium is placed upon respectand recognition from other wrestlers. Tothis end, participation in indie wrestling isgenerally a homosocial undertaking, wherewrestlers seek validation from other men. Asbroken down as their bodies become, andas misunderstood as they may be byoutsiders, Smith argues that participantsfind in the world of indie wrestling a ‘‘pow-erful enclave of legitimation, adoration, andconfirmation of self’’ (p. 61). Hence, theendeavor is highly compelling for some.

As I alluded to above, Smith positions Ragewrestlers as part of a larger cultural turntoward the body within working-class cul-ture (see Willis 2000). Thus, pain takes a cen-tral position in the world of indie pro wres-tling. Against negative accounts of pain thatclassify it solely in terms of its debilitatingcapacities, Smith shows how the enduranceof pain is central to how indie wrestlers seethemselves, as well as their craft. In linewith other analyses of sporting contexts,wrestlers adhere to Sabo’s (1994) ‘‘pain prin-ciple,’’ which suggests that people’s toler-ance for pain is tied directly to their characterand moral worth. Pain also works in anotherpositive fashion for indie wrestlers—it blursthe lines between real and fake for bothparticipants and the audience alike. The rou-tine and often debilitating pain common to

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indie wrestling is a mechanism for partici-pants to enforce the shared ethos that theircraft is indeed not fake. In this way, indiewrestlers are able to recast their craft, espe-cially the intimate touching that is commonlysubject to ridicule, in terms of pain and phys-icality. Moreover, the ability to endure pain isa way for indie wrestlers, who are deniedaccess to most of the ideals of modern west-ern manhood, to make good, as Smith says,on at least one of them.

In the final chapter, Smith makes his casethat the performance of masculinity in indiewrestling serves as a metaphor for doingmasculinity in general, itself a nuanced,self-conscious, and collaborative project.For example, the ‘‘hard’’ masculinity repre-sented in the strength and physicality of theactual wrestling performance is underwrit-ten by a softer, intimate set of relationshipsbetween men backstage. The apparent vio-lent moves, when coordinated correctly, aremade possible by ‘‘soft-touches,’’ synchro-nicity, and most importantly an unwaveringtrust in one’s opponent/partner.

Smith suggests that this same dynamic isat work inother enactments of Westernmasculinity, for example, those instances of‘‘hard’’ masculinity characteristic of athleticsand the military, but also in the performancesof our mundane, everyday lives. Indie wres-tlers, like their contemporaries, attempt tonavigate gender codes that changedepending on the setting. Far from an innatecapacity to live up to gender ideals, muchthought, planning, and rehearsal go intothese masculine enactments. The perfor-mance of masculinity across various contextsis thus learned, nuanced, and contingent atbest. Moreover, Smith claims that much ofwhat we consider to be ‘‘hard’’ masculinity,like the performance of pro wrestling, isdependent upon characteristics traditionallycoded as feminine, such as empathy, trust,and collaboration. This is an importantinsight to gender scholars, as it drivesa wedge in the idea that masculinity andfemininity are distinct spheres attributableto men and women exclusively. Smithconcludes by suggesting that the dynamicat work in wrestling holds true in othercontexts, stating that ‘‘the greater the showof impenetrable hard masculinity, the greaterthe web of trust and vulnerability to be

shared with one’s intimates’’ (p. 149). Whilethis theoretical insight may be valid else-where, its relevance and applicability is ulti-mately an empirical question, waiting to beresearched by others with the same ethno-graphic detail as Fighting for Recognition.

References

Sabo, Don. 1994. ‘‘Pigskin, Patriarchy, and Pain.’’In Sex, Violence, and Power in Sports, edited byMichael Messner and Don Sabo. Langhorne,PA: Crossing Press.

Willis, Paul. 2000. The Ethnographic Imagination.Malden, MA: Polity Press.

Building a Co-operative Community in PublicHousing: The Case of the Atkinson HousingCo-operative, by Jorge Sousa. Toronto:University of Toronto Press, 2013. 272 pp.$27.95 paper. ISBN: 9780802038036.

DEIRDRE OAKLEY

Georgia State UniversityDoakley1@gsu.edu

Like in the United States, public housing inCanada was once thought to be the grandsolution for providing decent and affordablehousing for low-income households. How-ever, in both countries, public housing waschronically underfunded. As early as the1970s, both countries’ public housing stockbegan falling into disrepair; and by the1980s, it had become vilified as housing oflast resort, associated with crime, poverty,unemployment, and people who did notcare about their community. The convenientstereotype of blaming public-housing resi-dents for the ills of their community is alltoo common and not only ignores the funda-mental role of government neglect but theagency of the residents themselves as well.

In Building a Co-operative Community inPublic Housing, Jorge Sousa skillfullydebunks this stereotype through his casestudy of the transformation of Toronto’sAlexandra Park Public Housing Project intothe Atkinson Housing Co-operative. AsSousa states, ‘‘In April 2003 the residents ofthe Alexandra Park community in Torontocompleted a ground-breaking process toconvert the project into Canada’s first

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