vv (7): mole people

[Lorentzen / Nicklaus]

 "he'd been on the job two weeks now and bagged four alligators and one rat." 

                                                                (112)


 in the mid 90s i once read a couple of chapters in a book about people actually 
 l i v i n g  in the sewer-system and subway tunnels of nyc. though i read it in 
 german i only remember the original title: "mole people". they do eat (also) 
 rats which they, according to this book, call "track-rabbits" [re-translation 
 of "gleishasen"]. i did not finished the book. partly because of its 
 dreariness. 


 though this text i'm talking about (also forgot the author's name) is not a  
 scientific study but a journalistic report, this is - i fear - not one of those 
 "urban legends" ...

 so: how many "mole people" do actually live below new york city?  hundreds? 
 thousands? perhaps somebody out there knows more about this.

kfl //:: ps: on "exclusion" see especially the following two articles by niklas 
             luhmann:

              - inklusion und exklusion. pp. 237-264, in: soziologische         
                aufklärung 6. die soziologie und der mensch. opladen 1995:      
                westdeutscher verlag.

              - jenseits von barbarei. pp. 138-150, in: gesellschaftsstruktur   
                und semantik. studien zur wissenssoziologie der modernen        
                gesellschaft. band 4. ffm 1995: suhrkamp. 

         & then also pp. 168ff & 618ff in "die gesellschaft der gesellschaft"   
         (ffm 1997: suhrkamp) as well as pp. 582ff in "das recht der            
         gesellschaft" (ffm 1993: suhrkamp).    

  "... yet functional differenciation can - in contrary to what the 
  self-descriptions of the systems say - not realize the postulated full 
  inclusion. functional systems exclude, in case they operate rationally, 
  persons or they push them to such an extend to the edge that this has 
 consequences for the access to other functional systems. no education, no job, 
 no income, no regular marriages, children without birth registration, passport, 
 without access to existing public services, no participation in politics, no 
 access to legal advice, to the police or the courts ..." 

 ---  niklas luhmann: beyond barbarity ---