Sociological Analysis of the California Taxi-Dancer the Hidden Halls

This study examines the social factors contributing to taxi-dancing, from a participant-observer perspective. Unlike others who have dealt with this topic, the author was herself employed as a taxi-dancer, a factor that provided first-hand information (from her employment in that capacity between 1969-1970), and field research during 1986-1987, where a mutual sense of identification with her respondents enabled her to acquire their trust, resulting in far more definitive data. The work endeavors to bring the taxi-dancers front stage to voice the contexts defining the personal and professional spheres of their everyday lives. The range of topics introduced as evidence of the "semi-deviant" status some experience includes wage competition, alcohol and drug abuse, prostitution and ageism. Also included are a theoretical chapter on symbolic interactionism and determinism, and an integrated review of the literature. The study will interest scholars in the area of deviance, gender, race and ethnicity, and urban studies, as well as women's studies.