Wire and Changing Urban Markets

Wire and Changing Urban Markets

According to a number of sociological resources, the public in general views two major things about the inner cities: gang activity is rampant and the predominant labor market and law enforcement has the primary responsibility for curbing such activity while trying to work with the system to revitalize the neighborhood. Gangs, though, are not a new thing -- in the 19th century American and British teen gangs roamed the inner cities, have been extensively studies, and even popularized in movies like Gangs of New York and even some Dickens interpretations (e.g. Oliver Twist). What may not be so well-known, though, is that even Saint Augustine, writing over 1600 years ago, referenced the perils of gangs within the cities. During the Medieval period they were also prevalent, so much so that even Chaucer wrote about them in his Canterbury Tales. So, even though we think of this type of activity as "modern," and relegated to our inner city environments, the truth is that gangs have been around as long as organized society. Most scholarship finds that reasons for gang activity have been historically economic. They typically involved a number of marginalized adolescents who were unable to take advantage of what little educational opportunities that were available; and usually pressed towards the edge of society to the point that it was either starve or join a gang for protection - or at the very least, to eat and have a safer place to live (Franzese, Covey and Menard 2006, 109-10).

One of the ways in which many modern Americans view urban areas is through the portrayal of some of the sociological and cultural issues at the heart of the inner city. There are numerous portrayals in movies and television, but one of the most realistic and vibrant is the Wire. The Wire is a television drama set around the inner city area of Baltimore, Maryland. It began in 2002 and ended in 2008, with 60 episodes on HBO in five seasons. It was written by former police reporter David Simon, using materials actually researched and based on factual cases. Each episode focuses on a different facet of the paradigm of inner city life -- drugs, government, schools, new media, and even the role of the support system for families. It actually received only modest ratings and never won any major television awards. Yet, it has been described by critics as an ambitious portrayal of inner city life that was not afraid to deal with uncomfortable, yet important, sociopolitical themes (Traister 2007).

One of the most telling parts of the Wire is the setting -- a modern American city on the eastern seaboard that is shaped by both economic restructuring and many real demographic changes that have resulted in job loss, depopulation of the inner city, rising crime rates, and numerous social problems and inequities. The show may be set in Baltimore, but the paradigm is just as true in many urban areas -- inequality breeds crime and dissatisfaction. From a sociological standpoint, it is interesting that the Wire almost always shows how various institutions, both governmental and non-governmental, actual work to limit opportunities for the disenfranchised rather than shaping any form of actualization. The portrayal of individuals within the series, too, speaks of the impossibility of citizens to move out of urban poverty, while also showing how the police have an impossible job. For instance, in Season 2, Hard Cases (Episode 4) explores the idea of individuals who are repeat offenders, and the difficulty for the police to even come close to managing crime. Just as one crime is potentially solved, three more pop up that may never be. The police must count on people from the neighborhood to assist them, but these same individuals are torn between helping the police and being part of the community. The idea of hopelessness is summed up when one of the characters, Nick, asks his father if he misses his work at the dock (the shipyards are closed, and the father now spends much of his time at a local bar, drinking to dull his pain). His father replies, "Wouldn't matter if I did" (the Wire 2005).

Also apparent is some real systems thinking with the Wire that goes to the heart of inner city labor and urban marketplaces. If we think sociologically, of cities as systems, then each part of the system should, in theory, be set up to actualize other parts -- residents live in neighborhoods, work to support local business, supply labor to actualize other organizations, form a tax base to support government (post office, police, fire, etc.). Then, in turn, the ecology of the city should, in theory, support the citizens so they can earn a living and contribute positively to society. The inner relationships of this ecological view can certainly be seen in Season 2, Episode 6, "All Prologue." This phrase referes to D'Angelo's view that a person's life is a continual unchanging prologue to their current situation. Ironically, he makes this comment when discussing F. Scott Fitzerald's the Great Gatsby, asking the audience to link Gatsby's inability to escape his past regardless of where he lives, who is with, and how much he tries to hide it. This epidomizes the labor market of the inner city -- it is tremendously difficult for anyone to escape the inner city -- typically the only routes are professional sports and higher education, both statistically unlikely for most urban youth (the Wire 2005).