This thoughtful, intensive ethnography of a Harlem neighborhood moves well beyond traditional perspectives on urban violence, considering the ways that new technologies and social media have transformed how youth interact and compete, as well as help each other escape from cycles of violence. With this nuanced portrayal of youth culture on- and off-line, The Digital Street promises to take urban ethnography into the twenty-first century.
Jeffrey Lane is a sociologist at Rutgers University New Brunswick in the School of Communication and Information. He studies urban community by observing the same people in person and online. Lane examines issues of youth, inequality, communication, and technology and his research has been written about by The Atlantic and Vice. His first book, Under the Boards, explored the meaning of race in the basketball industry.