Alice Goffman

About the Author

Alice Goffman is a renowned sociologist and ethnographer whose groundbreaking work illuminates the harsh realities of urban poverty and the criminal justice system's impact on marginalized communities. Drawing from her immersive fieldwork in a Philadelphia neighborhood, Goffman offers a poignant, firsthand account of how constant surveillance and policing force residents into lives of evasion and survival. Her research challenges conventional narratives about crime and punishment, highlighting systemic inequalities and the human cost of America's war on drugs. With a commitment to empathetic storytelling, Goffman bridges academic rigor and accessible prose, earning acclaim for her ability to humanize the statistics behind social injustice. Her insights continue to influence policy discussions and public understanding of inequality in contemporary America.