Drawing on longitudinal ethnographic research carried out over two-and-a-half decades in barrio Luis Fanor Hernández, a poor neighborhood in Managua, Nicaragua, this article explores how legal and illegal economic activities are socially legitimized, and more specifically, how certain illegal economic activities can end up being seen as legitimate, and certain legal ones perceived as illegitimate. The first part of the article explores the variable morality surrounding different types of criminal activities that local gang members engaged in during the 1990s and 2000s. The second part considers my experiences running a local market stall, describing the contrasting reactions I faced when I resorted to first legal, and then illegal, strategies to boost my revenue levels. Taken together, these examples showcase how the social legitimization of an economic activity has less to do with whether it is legal or illegal, but rather the future aspirations it embodies.

本文借鉴了在尼加拉瓜马那瓜的一个贫困社区 barrio Luis Fanor Hernández 进行的长达两年半的纵向民族志研究，探讨了合法和非法经济活动如何在社会上合法化，更具体地说，某些非法活动如何经济活动最终可能被视为合法，而某些合法活动最终可能被视为非法。文章的第一部分探讨了围绕 1990 年代和 2000 年代当地帮派成员从事的不同类型犯罪活动的可变道德。第二部分考虑了我经营当地市场摊位的经历，描述了当我首先诉诸合法，然后诉诸非法策略来提高收入水平时，我所面临的截然不同的反应。综合起来，