City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 6-2014 Enchanted Entrepreneurs: The Labor of Esoteric Practitioners in New York City Karen Gregory Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/218 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact:
[email protected] Enchanted Entrepreneurs: The Labor of Esoteric Practitioners in New York City by Karen Gregory A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2014 © 2014 KAREN GREGORY All Rights Reserved ii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Sociology in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. NAME April 24, 2014 Dr. Patricia Clough Date Chair of Examining Committee NAME April 24, 2014 Dr. Phil Kasinitz Date Executive Officer NAME Dr. William Kornblum NAME Dr. Vincent Crapanzano NAME NAME Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract Enchanted Entrepreneurs: The Labor of Esoteric Practitioners in New York City by Karen Gregory Adviser: Patricia Clough Through participant observation and in-depth interviews, this dissertation weaves portraits of urban esoteric practitioners together with contemporary social theories of labor in order to explore the embodied and subjectifying project of becoming a psychic or intuitive practitioner capable of offering emotional and psychological “support” to city dwellers.