The House That I Live In Summary

The documentary, The House That I Live In, analyzes the introduction of the war on drugs in America, why it was called into action, and its respective consequences. The war on drugs started as lawmakers searched to find ways to legally prosecute minorities. Lawmakers identified medicines primarily used by a single race or ethnicity, then outlawed the medicine as a drug to convict that race. As different races became problematic, new laws were created. Now these laws take advantage of the poor community as police are geographically targeting areas for crime. Many of these poor areas contain a high percentage of African Americans, due to Northern Jim Crow laws that forced blacks into economically disadvantaged ghettos. Thus, creating an overrepresentation

of the black population for drug crimes, even though drug use is distinctly biracial. These poor communities are often plagued by joblessness, poverty, broken families, and crime; a deadly cycle that many are unable to escape. With limited interaction from lawmakers to stop this cycle, drug crimes are continually monetized and disparity between drug charges still largely exist. An effort to create equality among drug laws and a focus on rehabilitation will take a large movement from the American people, with the help of a few brave and powerful individuals.
Three theories to explain this phenomenon are Agnew’s general strain theory, differential opportunity theory, and Merton’s strain theory.

First, Agnew’s general strain theory states that one experiences strain, which leads to feelings of anger and frustration, ultimately leading individuals to turn to deviant behaviors. The strain experienced is most likely to lead to deviancy if it is in high amounts, considered unjust or correlated to low self-control. Secondly, differential opportunity theory introduces the idea that deviance must be learned; however, opportunity to learn various types of deviance is not equal among the population. This theory identifies two subcultures useful for this topic, criminal and conflict. Criminal subcultures develop in lower classes where criminal opportunity is available and conflict subcultures develop in lower classes where no opportunities are available, criminal or legal. Lastly, Merton’s strain theory adapts the idea that everyone longs for success, but equal opportunities are not present; therefore, strain is introduced. This essay is focusing on innovation and retreatism because both lack the structural means to achieve success. The difference between these being that innovation accepts societal goals, while retreatism rejects

them.
Focusing on the how the poor minorities are disadvantaged, Agnew’s general strain theory is ideal for explaining many causes of criminal deviancy.

First and foremost, racism and a lower education often put poor minorities at a disadvantage for employment. In poor neighborhood, families are not likely to have the resources to fund secondary education and the education they receive growing up is also less than adequate. As one individual in the documentary states that the teachers they have do not seem to care about the students or the education. With a negatively impacted education, few are likely to aspire toward a collegiate degree. When applying for jobs, many find themselves in positions that require many hours of hard labor for an extremely low price because they are unable to be hired elsewhere. These low wages result in the relocation of moderately poor individuals, to very poor neighborhoods, further making it difficult to acquire and maintain a job. The repeated frustration of trying to find a job that provides well enough to support a family, while also being able to be an active part of the family, puts a large amount of stress onto the providers. After repeated attempts to support themselves and their family, many are forced to illegal escapades to provide for their loved ones. Others may react differently and seek out drugs as a coping mechanism to their stress and hardships, only to find themselves digging a deeper hole and straining family

ties.
The differential opportunity theory is extremely relevant to this documentary when addressing the children in poor neighborhoods, as well as, those who fight crime or act as prison guards. In poor urban environments, crime is on every corner, it is beside one’s home, and it is virtually anywhere you look. Children do not just stumble upon a drug deal and learn the behavior, they have grown up around drug deals happening outside of their bedroom window. Often, children’s parents are out selling drugs of their own to support their family, leaving their kids with a limited amount of supervision. During this time, kids look up to their parents, but they also look up to their friends and other older individuals who they may associate with being “cool.” Through this, children begin to have gang members and drug dealers as the role model. Now, not only do kids see an action of deviance, they aspire to emulate it themselves and study these behaviors. On the other end of the spectrum, those who grow up in communities funded by prisons, grow up to love the justice system. Kids in these towns aren’t growing up around crime and do not have the opportunity to learn about it; they grow up learning to hate crime and associate deviance with being a bad person. Two very distinct worlds with very distinct opportunities that shape a person.
Merton’s strain theory offers a much different approach to this situation. First, by innovation, individuals may find that dealing drugs yields a higher profit than a typical minimum wage job. However, their outcome is not to become the best drug dealer, it is to save enough money to be able to put money into applying for jobs. These expenses may be to afford a nicer place to live in a community with job availability, a nice interview outfit, or technology to look for jobs online or create a resume. The ends may justify the means for this individual. For those who are retreatists, they may feel the exact opposite. Their end goal may not be to get a successful legitimate job, but to become the most respected on the street. To do this, they may disregard school because becoming a drug dealer, gang member, or other respectable street position does not rely on a formal education. These people may also have developed a more simplistic goal, without the cultural dreams of mass success or a perfect family. Some may just be searching for a way to make it through life without having to conform to societies rules. As one of the drug dealers in the film states, their occupation is about survival, not a means to a typical American Dream.
After analyzing these three theories, it is unlikely that any one describes the American population. Each of these theories covers different possibilities that may apply more to on individual than another. Some individuals may be angry at the inequality they experience and decide to turn to a deviant lifestyle. However, maybe someone isn’t mad at their situation, they grow up around these deviant lifestyles and learn how to participate in them with their peers. Lastly, on a different end of the spectrum, an individual may have grown up around deviance, but aspires to the typical American idea of success and only uses their knowledge of deviance to allow them to pursue their dream; or possibly growing up in these areas have caused them to make their own dreams, achieved by their own rules. Although these are macro-level theories, they also may be well suited to describe individual behavior or the tendencies of one community.