Social Disorganization Theory In There Are No Children Here

Alex Kotowits’ book, There Are No Children Here, follows two young boys over a course of two years. The environment that the children are raised in is a lower income area that is surrounded by violence, gangs, and crime. The best theory to explain this novel would be strain theory, followed by social disorganization theory. Being raised in poverty generates many issues, which then makes children rebel later in life. Many families experience different types of strain such as experience strain, vicarious strain, and anticipated strain. This not only affects the person who is experiencing strain, but also affects other people who are around them. The novel presents a good example of both general strain theory and early social disorganization theory

by demonstrating issues caused by poverty, the strain these issues put on families, shows the effects that it has on the environment and community.
The two boys whom the book focuses on, Pharoah and Lafayette, are two of eight children in the Rivers family.

The Rivers family lives in the projects, which are known as Henry Horner Homes. This is a public housing development for individuals who cannot afford other housing. The area around the housing development is taken over by gangs, where murders and shootings happen almost every day. Friends of the Rivers family ended up getting murdered on the streets because of drugs and gangs. LaJoe, their mother, raises the children with the occasional help of their father Paul. Their father is sometimes absent in the children’s life’s due to his drug addiction. Throughout the book, LaJoe was afraid that she would lose her sons from gangs that surround their neighborhood. Lafayette is forced to help his mother around the house and work a side job - washing cars near a stadium to help his mother save money. But Lafayette sometimes hangs out with the wrong crowd. For example, when Lafayette was with his friends at a video store, he got convinced to steal a tape, but ended up getting caught by the store manager. LaJoe was terrified that Lafayette was going to turn out like his older brother Terrence, who got incarcerated for armed robbery. Toward the end of the book, Lafayette was arrested for allegedly breaking into a truck and had to go to court and was found guilty. As for Pharaoh, he was always the child who impressed LaJoe when it came to school. He loved the spelling bee and

competed two years in a row. Pharaoh chose to ignore the violence and gangs around his neighborhood, and always knew between right and wrong.
The best theory that is exhibited throughout the novel is general strain theory. This theory discusses how society puts a great amount of pressure on individuals to achieve socially acceptable goals, which may lead individuals to commit crime if they cannot do so. Living in poverty can cause many negative emotions, such as frustration and anger. Lower class individuals have a difficult time achieving their goals due to their environment. Not only do these individuals commit more crime, but they also do poorly in school because of their lack of education. Children in low income communities are expected to perform lower academically, due to the lack of resources in their schools. This pressure acts as a self-filling prophecy for these students, letting them succumb to the social standard that low income students tend to do poorly in school. Individuals who commit crime believe that this is a way to reduce strain. For example - committing theft, doing illegal drugs, and joining gangs would be ways that they reduce strain. There are many types of strain, such as, experience, vicarious, and anticipated. Experience strain is when something that you experienced caused a negative emotion in one’s life that leads to strain. As for vicarious strain, other people’s strain affects you. And finally, anticipated strain is a negative emotion that causes you strain, but one is not experiencing at that moment, it happens later. Strain theory is very problematic in this story and is shown between different individuals throughout the novel.
Strain theory is prevalent in the book There Are No Children Here. Growing up in a public housing development leads to strain because the Rivers family is constantly around crime. LaJoe’s three eldest children have each been in jail at least once in their life because of their involvement with drugs and gang violence. This caused LaJoe strain because she feels like she lost her children because she could not provide financially. Living in the projects, there are three main gangs, known as the Vice Lords, the Disciples, and the El Runkins. Gangs in Chicago tend to recruit young children because they believe that the police will not find them guilty of criminal acts.
Agnew’s general strain theory, focused on three sources of strain, they are goal blockage, introduction of noxious stimuli and loss of valued strain (Agnew, 2006). This theory explains, how individuals can experience negative emotions that leads to strain and other peoples strain can affect another individual. When Lafayette was younger he was close to a young boy named Bird Leg. As time went on, Bird leg and Lafayette started to drift apart because they had different sets of values. At the age of fourteen, Bird Leg dropped out of school and became involved with the Vice lords. Later, Bird Leg had been shot and died. The Disciples who are rivals from the Vice lords shot Bird leg. When Bird Leg passed away this affected Lafayette because they were close friends. Throughout the book, when Lafayette and Pharaoh were younger, they always feared that they would get pulled into gangs just like their older brother Terrance. This was known as anticipated strain, the two brothers never stopped thinking about how scared they were to be pulled into gang life, even though it was not happening yet. Since gangs are prevalent around the neighborhood, this puts strain on younger children because they are constantly observing gang members and usage of drugs.
Parents who separate lead to a great amount of strain on their children.

Paul, who is the father of the eight children, shows up sporadically throughout the book. LaJoe and Paul split up because he was addicted to drugs. Paul worked for the local sewer department, making $350 to $450 every two weeks. Instead of providing for his family, Paul would spend all the money on drugs. This put the family in a stressful situation because they could not afford the necessities that they needed. Paul was so dependent on drugs to the point where he would steal money from his own children. The children knew about Paul’s drug problem, which caused them to act out. One morning, Lafeyette could not find his dog anywhere in the apartment. He immediately assumed that his father sold the dog for drug money. Paul was at the apartment that day with his mother sitting on the couch watching television. All the sudden, Lafeyette stormed in the room and up to his father, accused him of stealing his dog and called him a dope fiend. Lafeyette was so angry his “right fist came smashing into the side of his father’s temple” . Paul said “You’re fourteen. You’re of age. You want to be a man, okay, you got a choice to be a man” . All of the sudden, Paul started hitting Lafeyette. LaJoe did not know how to handle the situation and began to break up the fight. This example displays how strain affects the relationship with the father and son because they used instrumental relief to relieve

stress.
Growing up in the projects, education becomes a prominent issue because it is in a lower economic area. Lafeyette and Pharaoh attend Henry Suder Elementary School, located in the inner-city. Pharaohs teacher Ms. Barone, is constantly worried about her students growing up in an unstable environment. Almost every day, “the parking lot behind the school had been the site of numerous gang battles” . The older brother Terrance dropped out of school by the time he was in seventh grade. He did not care for school and thought it was a waste of time and energy. When Terrance dropped out, he started to commit delinquent crimes and caused himself to get in trouble with the police. Both Lafeyette and Pharaoh are inspired by their cousin Dawn for graduating from Crane High School. Most people fear going to Crane because it is one of the worst schools in the city. Over a course of a couple months, “six teachers had been attacked by students, and after a small riot broke out in the lunchroom, the school ordered plastic utensil in place of the metal ones” . Being in this environment creates goal blockage, which creates the opportunity for crime. Many children drop out because they struggle and began to realize that they can succeed in life a different way.
The next best theory that is present in the book is early social disorganization theory. This theory is intertwined with strain theory. Social disorganization directly links crime rates to neighborhood characteristics. Shawn and McKay focuses on three main characteristics that causes delinquency in urban areas, they tend to be poor, high mobility, and heterogonous. Individuals who live in poverty tend to move in and out of the neighborhood. When people move around a lot they do not create a relationship with their neighbors, which can lead to a significant problem with relationships. Not having neighbors intervene when someone is breaking into one’s house can be an issue. Living in a disorganized environment reduces relationships with the community and then leads to criminal activity. Location is a huge factor when it comes to criminal activity. Growing up in a low poverty area, people automatically think it’s fine to commit a criminal act.
The River’s family lives in a disadvantaged neighborhood where the neighbors do not communicate with one other. LaJoe has lived in the projects for a while now, and “had watched and held on as the neighborhood slowly decayed, as had many urban communities like Horner over the past two decades” . The Horner housing development was in zone two, which is known as interstitial zone. Parks and Burgess discusses the evolution of the city and how cities start small and expand outward from the center. Families that were in poverty could not get out of this zone; they felt stuck. Residents who lived in this area felt disconnected from their neighbors. There was no trust between one another because there was no communication. LaJoe “sometimes blamed her children’s problems on the neighborhood; at other times, she attributed the neighborhood’s decline to the change in people, to the influx of drugs and violence” . The social bonds between the Rivers family and the neighbors are distant. Nobody communicates with each other, and this makes them not want to intervene if they see criminal activity happening.
The book There Are No Children Here demonstrates how strain theory affects an individual’s life. Being surrounded by violence and gangs can take a toll on one’s life, which can lead to strain. There are many examples in the novel that show how strain affect’s the Rivers family. Social disorganization also is relevant in the book. Both these theories are present throughout the book due to the relationship with their neighbors, torn down area, education, gangs, and relationship with family members. Strain theory and social disorganization theory can impact a person’s life and lead to a negative future. Growing up in a low poverty area increases the chance of one to commit crime because they are constantly experience violence every day.

Bibliography

Kotlowitz, Alex. There are no children here: the story of two boys growing up in the other America. New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1992.