A research model is an ideal model follow by eight basic steps and it is essential for sociological research. Sociologists may include all of the steps or omit some of the steps in their research. The Street Corner Society by William Foote Whyte is based on a case study of the community in Cornerville. In his fieldwork, a few steps were omitted from the research model. As Whyte was trying to assimilate into the community, some of his behavior was considered as an informal deviance.
In his research, Whyte focus on how Cornerville society is organized. Although Whyte had chosen a topic for his fieldwork, he omits to formulate a hypothesis and do a literature review before starting his research. While Whyte is seeking for ways to get acquainted
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with the people from Cornerville, he meets a young economic instructor at Harvard who speaks confidently about his way to get new information. He told Whyte that he would just stops by some drinking place of the area, and starts a conversation with the people. Instead of reading what has been published, Whyte decides to imitates this practice but unfortunately he failed. He realized that “hardly anyone from Cornerville ever went into Regal Hotel” (Whyte 62). Right after his first failure, Whyte seeks help from the local settlement house. There he met Doc, who became his guide, sponsor and an informant in his fieldwork. In order to study the social structure of the neighborhood, Whyte uses several research methods.
With Doc’s help, Whyte gains entry to the community where he became a participant. After he has entered the community, Whyte demonstrates his effort to assimilate into the society. In Street Corner Society, Whyte mentions “Gradually, as I got to know the men better, I found myself becoming one of the Norton Street gang” (Whyte 64). As Whyte began to establish good rapport with the people, he attempts to conduct unstructured interviews. But he soon learned about when to ask question and when to listen. His informant, Doc also offered an advice to Whyte, he told Whyte that he will “learn the answers in the long run without even having to ask the questions” (67). Whyte subsequently learnt that what Doc said was true, but he did not forsake the non-directed interviews. He simply learnt to asks the right questions at the right time. Besides using participant observation, Whyte also collected the firsthand accounts from Doc. Once Whyte gather together all relevant information that has been collected, he began to analyze the structure of the community. Whyte then shared his findings by published this ethnography entitled Street Corner
Society. Norm is an expectation of proper behavior. As a newcomer, Whyte is not familiar with the local custom. When Whyte visit the Regal Hotel, he asked to joined in a threesome which he wish to rectify the maldistribution of females. The man in the group then offered to throw Whyte downstairs. The male in the group enjoys the female company or he probably thought that Whyte came into the bar looking for trouble. Another example of norm violation was when he took a girl to a church dance; however, he didn’t know that home visits was some sort of commitment. After the incident, Whyte never make home visits anymore. Other norms violation includes asking the wrong question at the wrong time and the use of obscenity and profanity. On the micro level, William Foote Whyte study about the interaction of the people in Cornerville. Through interviewing and participant observation, Whyte was able to understand the community. At first Whyte was anxious to integrate well into the strange new world, but in the end he found a way to cope.
The street code is a very important concept when talking about the world of the inner city. In Anderson’s words, the code of the
Harding, D. J. (2010). Living the Drame: Community, Conflict, and Culture Among Inner-City Boys. Chicago, IL: The University Of Chicago Press.
Jumped in by Jorja Leap is an autobiographical book about the experiences of a UCLA professor’s struggle to understand the lifestyle of gangs, and to figure out a way to end gang violence. Jorja Leap is an outsider looking at these communities from an intellectual sociological point of view, but she also has her personal biases shown. She stated in the book she is similar to an anthropologist, committing research specifically on gangs to comprehend their motivations. Her research leads her to interact with individuals that were or are affected by gang violence, whether they were the culprit or the victim. A large amount of the individuals she interviewed also want to end gang violence. These people know the negative effects that it has had on their communities and the suffering that it causes. These
The book We Beat the Street by DRS. Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, Rameck Hunt, and Sharon Draper, is a captivating autobiography about three boys, Sampson, Rameck, and George, who overcame several obstacles and became important doctors. This story took place in the dangerous location of Newark, New Jersey, in the 1980-1990’s, where violence, peer pressure, and drugs were often found. Accordingly, the majority of people were greatly impacted by the negativity around them. In this book, Sampson and Rameck were affected by their negative environment, hence they were involved in unfortunate situations, and often had to face severe consequences, some as serious as being arrested.
For this assignment I decided to read the book Code of the Street: decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city by Elijah Anderson. This book is about how inner city people live and try and survive by living with the code of the streets. The code of the streets is basically morals and values that these people have. Most of the time it is the way they need to act to survive. Continuing on within this book review I am going to discuss the main points and arguments that Anderson portrays within the book. The main points that the book has, goes along with the chapters. These points consist of Street and decent families, respect, drugs violence, street crime, decent daddy, the mating game, black inner city grandmother. Now within these points there are a few main arguments that I would like to point out. The first argument is the belief that you will need to accept the street code to get through life. The other one is the belief that people on the street need “juice”. For the rest of this paper we will be looking at each one of main points and arguments by going through each chapter and discussing it.
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.
...coincides with the definition of sociology. Different sociological theories can also be applied to circumstances of each character, especially the social imagination theory by E.B. Wright. Sociological concepts such as social structure, culture, and deviance are evident throughout the book. Ms. Thorpe used the sociological method of research known participant- observer to do her research (Scheuble, 2013). All of this proves that this book is good example of Sociology research book.
When being combined, these interactions altogether release certain essential social force that pushes the sidewalk subculture to a more concrete state, in which less men choose to give up and to be drawn into the "fuck it!" mental state. And as the author pointed out at the conclusion, "the people working on Sixth Avenue are persevering. They are trying not to give up hope. We should honor them." (317)
The sidewalk is a social structure for the people who work and live in it. They are mentors for each other. They play the same role of self-direction and psychological fulfillment of a formal job or family for example; where the society is shrunken on that one sidewalk. They form an informal social organization and social control so they can survive against the outer social system; meanwhile, this social organization organizes property rights and division of labor. Although their life seems deviant, they still practice conventional social practices and norms. Although it might seem that these men are engaged in random behavior, yet there is an organized interaction of norms and goals, and a shared collective self-consciousness from having a shared common history.
Peering in from the eastern border of St. James Park, in the city of San José, you begin to get an essence of American life. From the upper echelons, to the lowly scum of society, St. James Park is known for its diversity. With the church at your back, you can observe the people pacing the station, glancing at their cell phones every other second as they wait for the train to arrive. An elderly man takes a leisurely stroll with the support of his cane. Kids playing soccer score between goal post marked by homeless bunker tree forts. Police reprimand a vagrant man for being naked while changing at his park bench. A used dirty tissue and old worn-in hooker boots lay carelessly on a picnic table inside the deserted playground area. The thugs make a quick score of some coke from their local street pharmacist. In the distance, bordering the western end of the park, are the steps leading to the Superior Court House: an everlasting symbol of justice and security presiding over American life. The frequenters of St. James Park are a part of a unique and complex subculture, in and of itself.
Taking Two Of The Theoretical Approaches To Social Research Discussed In The Module, Demonstrate The Connections Between Their Ontological, Epistemological And Methodological Assumptions. Which Method Or Methods Would Proponents Of Each Theory Favour As A Result Of Their Assumptions.
Society has developed this standard way of leaving and when one is put out of this inner circle, they are left to look at life in a whole new perspective, challenging themselves against the norms in order to survive. No group of people knows this better than the “Mole people” introduced in Jennifer Toth’s book, The Mole people, where life is a constant struggle against others, police and what lurks in the abyss of the New York City tunnel system. The sociological concepts of accommodation, alienation, and culture play a key role in how we view and understand the lives of this counterculture based off of various sociological theories. These sociological tools will provide us with the ability to understand the lives of this group of people and
“I ain’t gonna let you two jokers get some free education and leave me on the streets to sell pencils.” The reality was for most boys living in the tough Newark streets, pencils were the best thing they could have sold. We Beat the Street is a true story that follows three young men, Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt, as they grow up trying to escape the roads of drugs, guns, and incarceration. The Three Doctors, as they call themselves today, admit that the challenge of succeeding was daunting, but they wanted to tell their story to inspire all young people that they can achieve through all obstacles. The story is told through the eyes of the young men and through reflections from the grown men today, which immerses the reader
The first few inquisitions from the young men that she filmed were “Why are you following me? Why my hoodie is makes me look suspicious? Why does my music make me dangerous?” Davis informs that they are being discriminated based on how they look and what interests them. They are also being discriminated because of how they are, even if they don’t know them as a person. Moreover, she further employs ethos by astonishing the viewers of how driven and eager the young boys are to achieve their dreams and aspirations. They confidently said the statements “Because I have dreams. Because I can change the world. Because I will make a difference. Because I can lead the country. Because I am determined. Because I am a scholar”. This remarkably persuades the viewers that they should not be abused, killed and downgraded because they are not nothing. They are something. They are determined human beings who have a goal in life and they will achieve it and be successful
This paper discusses three approaches that can be taken when studying Sociology. There are many subjects to be studied and discussed in the field of Sociology, and the approach chosen to study a particular subject is called a perspective. There are three different perspectives, and they are functionalist, conflict, and interactionist perspectives. This paper compares and contrasts these different perspectives with one another.