The Labor of Luck

Casino Capitalism in the United States and South Africa

By: Jeff Sallaz

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Paperback | 2 October 2009 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

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344 Pages

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22.67 x 15.29 x 2.12

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In this gripping ethnography, Jeffrey J. Sallaz goes behind the scenes of the global casino industry to investigate the radically different worlds of work and leisure he found in identically designed casinos in the United States and South Africa. Seamlessly weaving political and economic history with his own personal experience, Sallaz provides a riveting account of two years spent working among both countries' casino dealers, pit bosses, and politicians. While the popular imagination sees the Nevada casino as a hedonistic world of consumption, The Labor of Luck shows that the "Vegas experience" is made possible only through a variety of systems regulating labor, capital, and consumers, and that because of these complex dynamics, the Vegas casino cannot be seamlessly picked up and replicated elsewhere. Sallaz's fresh and path-breaking approach reveals how neo-liberal versus post-colonial forms of governance produce divergent worlds at the tables, and how politics, profits, and pleasure have come together to shape everyday life in the new economy.

Industry Reviews

"An important contribution to the sociology of work." -- Daniyal Zuberi American Journal Of Sociology "Extremely useful... Brings gambling out of the confines of literatures on deviance and pathology into the mainstream of sociology." -- Terry Austrin, University of Canterbury, New Zealand Intl Journal Of Comparative Soci

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Sociology & Anthropology Anthropology Social & Cultural Anthropology, Ethnography Industry & Industrial Studies Service Industries Sport & Leisure Industries Physical Anthropology Hobbies, Games & Puzzles Gambling Theories & Methods Society & Culture Archaeology

Industrial Relations, Health & Safety Industrial Relations

List of Illustrations	p. ix
List of Tables	p. xi
Preface	p. xiii
Introduction: Dealing with Globalization	p. 1
Behind The Tables	p. 27
Nevada: Learning to Deal	p. 29
Silver State Casino: Entrepreneurs at Work	p. 41
South Africa: Gambling with Empowerment	p. 71
Gold City Casino: Effacing Labor	p. 89
Beyond the Scenes	p. 111
The Politics of Producing Service	p. 113
Cut from the Same Cloth: Convergent Historical Origins	p. 126
The Birth of Regulation: States, Stigmata, and Symbolic Capital	p. 162
Of Dice and Men: Divergent Modes of Management	p. 197
Conclusion: Casino Capitalism and Politico-Performativity	p. 235
Methodological Appendix: Comparative Ethnography and Reflexive Science	p. 251
Notes	p. 261
Bibliography	p. 293
Index	p. 311
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

The Labor of Luck

Casino Capitalism in the United States and South Africa

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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