av福利社

In today鈥檚 new economy鈥攊n which 鈥済ood鈥� jobs are typically knowledge or technology based鈥攎any well-educated and culturally savvy young people are instead choosing to pursue traditionally low-status manual labor occupations as careers. Masters of Craft looks at the renaissance of four such trades: bartending, distilling, barbering, and butchering. In this engaging book, Richard Ocejo takes you into the lives and workplaces of these people to examine how they are transforming once-undesirable jobs into 鈥渃ool鈥� and highly specialized upscale occupations. He shows how they find meaning in these jobs by enacting a set of 鈥渃ultural repertoires,鈥� resulting in a new form of elite taste-making. Focusing on cocktail bartenders, craft distillers, upscale men鈥檚 barbers, and whole-animal butcher shop workers in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and upstate New York, Masters of Craft provides new insights into the stratification of taste, the spread of gentrification, and the evolving labor market in today鈥檚 postindustrial city.

Awards and Recognition

• Winner of the Max Weber Book Award, Organizations, Occupations, and Work Section of the American Sociological Association
• Longlisted for the 2018 Spirited Awards Best New Book on Drinks, Culture, History, or Spirits, Tales of the Cocktail