Short Paper Assignment 2 Throughout the article “The Code of the Streets,” Elijah Anderson explains the differences between “decent” and “street” people that can be applied to the approaches of social control, labeling, and social conflict theories when talking about the violence among inner cities due to cultural adaptations. Anderson’s theory examined African Americans living in America’s inner cities that are driven to follow the “street code” and work to maintain respect, loyalty, and their own self-image. The “street code” Anderson is referring to is “a cultural adaptation” which is the cause of violent crime in America’s inner cities (Anderson Article PDF, 3). Since these people are living in mainly impoverished neighborhoods with easy access to drugs and guns, as well as high rates of crime and violence, “everyone feels isolated and alienated from the rest of America” (Vold, 187). Anderson continues to distinguish between “decent” people and “street people.” Those who are “decent” families live in accordance with a “civil code” that upholds values in comparison with the rest of society such as maintaining a job, obtaining an education, protecting their children and following the law. Additionally, “street” families tend to fend for themselves, and when young, grow up without adult supervision and are often abused. This alone causes a dangerous environment because children then, “learn that to solve any kind of interpersonal problem one must quickly resort to hitting or other violent behavior” (Anderson Article PDF, 5). When brought up in an inner city “street” family, racism is a leading factor that causes the youth to construct a negative outlook on the rest of society. When these inner city, lo... ... middle of paper ... ...y residents would most likely be categorized as a cultural theory because he focuses more on “the roles of ideas in causing criminal behavior” (Vold 184). Not only would I classify Anderson’s theory as a cultural theory due it its prominent argument crime is learned through association, but I would constitute “code of the streets” as a cultural control theory. One assumption Anderson is able to conclude is how “street” people justify their criminal behavior, such as the denial of responsibility as seen throughout the article when the criminals claim the victim should of known better. This directly correlates with the control theory concept that people naturally commit crime and it is the bonds we make and restraints we form which will inevitably categorize our behavior as “street” or “deviant”.
I enjoyed reading Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys by Victor M. Rios because it was not only informing, but I could place myself as if I were one of the characters in the story. I could not even begin to imagine what these boys with through. From being beaten’ for no reason, to getting cuffed and sitting in the back of a cop car because they were eating a slice of pizza is absolutely ridiculous and should not be tolerated. Not only did I understand how these boys were in the networks of crime, but also, the criminalization, and punishment made sense and how I observed the higher authority took action. In my essay, I will be discussing three major concepts which are: moral panics, labeling , and code of the street.
The way Staples structures this essay emphasizes his awareness of the problem he faces. The essay’s framework consists mostly of Staples informing the reader of a scenario in which he was discriminated against and then following it with a discussion or elaboration on the situation. This follow-up information is often an expression stating comprehension of his problem and than subtitle, logical criticisms toward it. For example, Staples describes women “fearing the worst of him” on the streets of Brooklyn. He then proceeds to declare that he understands that “women are particularly vulnerable to street violence, and young black males are drastically overrepresented among the perpetrators of that violence.” Staples supports this statement with information about how he had witnessed gang violence in Chester, Pennsylvania and saw countless black youths locked away, however, Staples pronounces that this is no excuse for holding every young black man accountable, because he was an example of a black man who “grew up one of the good boys” coming “to doubt the virtues of intimidation early on.” This narrative structure highlights that Staples is not a hypocrite because he is not show ignorance toward the problem he is addressing unlik...
The movie City of God, showed the incredible world of gang youth in the undeveloped area of Rio de Janeiro, where gangs ruled the streets and young children were initiated into murder before they were teenagers. The urbanization of the third world is creating sub-cultures that are filed with chaos and run by crime, most of which is the result of drugs and other illegal activities. In his article Race the Power of an Illusion, Dalton Conley says, “the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s really marks both an opportunity and a new danger in terms of racial relations in America. On the one hand, the Civil Rights era officially ended inequality of opportunity. It officially ended de jure legal inequality, so it was no longer legal for employers, for landlords, or for any public institution or accommodations to discriminate based on race. At the same time, those civil rights triumphs did nothing to address the underlying economic and social inequalities that had already been in place because of hundreds of years of inequality.” (Conley, 1). Though the Civil Rights movement was able to get equal rights for blacks, it could not stop the brutality that still plagued them. The urban setting is so overcrowded that the people are living on top of each other.
Victor Rios is a previous gang member, whom “was given the opportunity” to get out of the youth control complex. In his book “Punished”, he analyzes the experiences of young black and Latino boys in Oakland, California. Rios gives us an intimate description of some of the everyday forms of “hyper discrimination” these minority boys experience. This book review will focus on the main concepts explained in chapters one through three from the book Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys.
“On the run: Wanted Med in the Philadelphia Ghetto” by Alice Goffman (2009), explores the dysfunctional relationship between individuals in “ghettos” and the criminal justice system. Incarceration rates in the United States have increased seven times over 40 years among Black men with limited education (Goffman 2009:339). Incarceration leads to the discrimination and disadvantage of Black males; socially and economically (Goffman 2009:339). Additionally, increased incarcerations influence the amount of policing in communities. Subsequently, increased incarcerations of individuals from poor communities, results in increased policing in their neighbourhoods. Goffman (2009) focuses her study on the rate of incarceration and police
Staples successfully begins by not only admitting the possible faults in his practiced race but also by understanding the perspective of the one who fear them. Black males being opened to more violence because of the environment they're raised in are labeled to be more likely to cause harm or committing crime towards women but Staples asks why that issue changes the outlook of everyday face to face contact and questions the simple actions of a black man? Staples admits, "women are particularly vulnerable to street violence, and young black males are drastically overrepresented among the perpetrators of that violence," (Staples 384) however...
The inside look of Jeff Ferrell’s urban experiences in his book Tearing Down the Streets: Adventures in Urban Anarchy gives a unique perspective of resisting how traditional urban environments are shaped and practiced from a radical standpoint. He concentrates on the nonconformist’s population in public spaces that ranges from the homelessness, street musicians, skater punks, base jumpers and more that constitutes an “act of political resistance” (Ferrell, 95). Ferrell explores new terrain in the anarchist street world by participating in battles for cultural spaces and then examines the intentions and meaning behind their cause. That urban engagement from Ferrell’s experience reveals a massive reflectance on “anarchist practice” and “spatial
Elijah Anderson’s Code of the Street book depicts two opposite communities within Philadelphia, the poor inner city black community and the residential middle class community. The majority of the book revolves around describing how the inner city functions on a ‘code of the street’ mentality, respect and toughness. Crime, violence and poverty run high in the inner city and following the code is a way to survive. Having a decent family or a street family greatly influences the path an adolescent will take involving delinquency. Anderson divides the book up into different themes and explores each one my not only giving factual information, but he also incorporates real life stories of various people who survived the inner city life style. Some of the themes include territory, survival by any means necessary, toughness, separate set of norms, campaign of respect and the mating game. Some criminological theories are also noticeable that take place in the inner city community.
From my sociological point of view, the article “Code of the Streets,” demonstrates urban problems, poverty, analyzing class inequality, perspectives on gender inequality, and diversity in families in the United States.
Everybody grows up in a different place. For some people, including African-Americans, they grew up in a poor neighbor. You’re probably wondering what growing up in a poor neighborhood has to do with anything. Well, let me tell you this. According to Congressperson Danny Davis, he said that 70% of black men who are between ages 18-45 that grew up in a neighborhood with poverty especially in Chicago are ex-offenders. This means that because these African-American men grew in poverty, they’re more likely to commit crimes. And from the U.S. Department of Commerce, a total of 26.2 percent, or 10.8 million African Americans grew up in poverty. Knowing all this, over 5.5 million African-Americans
The assumption that black people have lesser moral values and have a greater inclination towards violence is not new. According to Herman Gray, “Blackness was constructed along a continuum ranging from menace on one end to immortality on the other, with irresponsibility located somewhere in the middle.” (Gray) T...
In particular, inner-city(e.g., low-income urban) African-American male adolescents have been identified as a high-risk segment of youth due to their disproportionately high rates of exposure to (and often participation in) violent situations (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,2001; Hammond and Yung, 1993; Rich, 2001)" (Abdul-Ali). Elijah Anderson states, that "the 'code of the street' in poor, inner-city African-American communities places all young African-American men under much pressure to respond to certain situations-show of disrepect-with violence" (Anderson. 1994). The Young Warriors Violence Prevention program is consistent with Anderson's research because the program targets those that Anderson identified that were the most at risk: African-American Males from poor inner-city enviroments. Anderson, states that it is not only African-Americans that have a 'code on the street", but other races (white and Latino) who come from disadvantaged environment have a 'code of the street'. Economic and social disadvantage in these communities create "a threat of violence that is high in many disadvantaged communiites" (Cullen & Agnew, 2011, 143). The Young Warriors Violence Prevention for Inner-City African American Male Adolescents program uses rap music to challenge 'the code of the street' and they use this as a mechanism to unify the youth and prevent violence. For instance, Jaleel Adul-Ali who reviewed the program found that "critical consciousness may be a particularly important sociopolitical resource for enhancing violence prevention efforts with inner-city African-American male adolescents(Watts & Abdul-Adil, 1998; Watts, Abdul-Adil & Pratt, 2002; Watts, Griffith & Abdul-Adil, 1999). Kerns and Prinz (2002) arg...
Over the past half century, violence in the United States has increased dramatically. Children who were raised in a tough, low-income neighborhood often fail to escape exposure to violence. They may witness homicides, assaults, and some may even have had a friend who had been killed. According to recent research, these children have higher violence rates than those kids who grew up in a non-violent neighborhood.
For much of the history of the United States, men of color have continuously faced negative portrayals from the white dominated society, often through the use of negative stereotypes. However, it was not until the 1980s that negative portrayals of youths began to appear with academia and the government. Since the 80s, California police have steadily seen their power in poor urban areas grow with the passage of laws in order to combat the many gangs operating within its borders. Of the laws passed, none has been more influence than the California Criminal Street Gang Offenses and Enhancements Act. In short, the act states that if someone were to commit a crime while being related to gang activity, additional charges would be added in addition to the original crime. Additionally, police departments are given access to gang databases that are used to help identify (or misidentify) people that could be gang affiliated. Within academia, the negative portrayals could be traced to the Princeton Professor John Dilulio’s 1996 “Super Predator” thesis. Within this thesis, Dilulio argues that there is a new breed of juveniles had begun to emerge from society with what could only be described as an
Even the most noble of societies can’t escape crime. Most choose to ignore the fallacies of urban youth be it in the ghetto or the suburbs, our children are becoming victims of their own ignorance. The lure of “street” life out weighs the yearning for a competent education. The media, audio and visual glorify a lifestyle that average people lust for. Most children compare the lifestyle of entertainers to their own creating a yearning for riches, and begin to emulate the behaviorism of their favorite wrestler, rapper, or movie actor unfortunately these characters are not all positive roll models. Society stands by; few do anything to stop our innocent children become victims as well as offenders.