Gang Leader for a Day

by

Sudhir Venkatesh

Professor Bill Wilson Character Analysis

Sudhir’s dissertation adviser, Bill Wilson is one of the most famous faculty members in the Sociology Department at the University of Chicago. Wilson kick-starts Sudhir’s research by asking him to take a questionnaire into one of the projects on the South Side, to gauge how “happy” African American men are with their jobs and lives.
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Professor Bill Wilson Character Timeline in Gang Leader for a Day

The timeline below shows where the character Professor Bill Wilson appears in Gang Leader for a Day. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1 - How Does It Feel to Be Black and Poor?
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...his field, or if he has to choose between them at all. Meanwhile, he meets Professor William Julius Wilson , a member of the UChicago sociology faculty, and agrees to ask survey questions of... (full context)
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...neighborhood, in November of 1989. He still has his clipboard with a questionnaire, created by Bill Wilson . In the lobby of one building, Sudhir asks around to see if the young... (full context)
Chapter 2 – First Days on Federal Street
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...than beacons of hope for fairer living conditions for the working poor. Although people like Bill Wilson , Sudhir’s academic supervisor at UChicago, devoted their lives to understanding what it was like... (full context)
Chapter 4 – Gang Leader for a Day
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...others in the BKs and in the Robert Taylor Homes. In discussions with his adviser Bill Wilson , Sudhir agrees to “expand” his project as a way of understanding how the BKs... (full context)