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Code of the Street
In his book, Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City, Elijah Anderson takes an honest and in-depth look at life in America's inner cities, particularly as it affects African-American families. In Chapter One, titled "Decent and Street Families," he explains that within these communities there are two views of the best way to live one's life and raise a family: the "decent family" approach, and the "street family" approach.
Anderson recognizes that most families in the poorer inner-city neighborhoods face financial hardships. In addition, because of the history of race relations in the United States, most feel at least some degree of alienation from the dominant culture, which is white and middle-class. It is how individuals and families react to this state of affairs that determines whether they are a "decent" or a "street" family.
In the chapter, he also explains that it is particularly...
The street is both dangerous and seductive -- one misstep can cause a fatal fall...." He describes the struggle "decent" families face to protect their children as much as possible from the lures of street culture. However, eventual contact with the street culture is unavoidable, for young women but even more so for young men.
Anderson also explains another difficulty. The extended family is important in the Black community, but within the extended family of a "decent" family there may well be relatives who have embraced a street lifestyle. As the song "It's A Family Affair" says, "Momma love the both of them ... you see, it's in the blood...." The result is that in spite of parents' best efforts, all…
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anderson, Elijah. Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City.
Price, Hugh B. 1995. "To Be Equal: Inner City Gangs. Oakland Post, June 14.
Code of the Street Anderson in "Code of the Street" seeks to highlight many of the ills and problems that seem to plague inner-city African-American families and communities, and highlights aggression and interpersonal violence as the most prominent factors (p. 171). The propensity for violence, according to Anderson predisposes 'a cultural adaptation' that has hampered growth and development within this particular part of society. Following is an examination of The Code
In this example, it becomes evident that Anderson's underlying theory in conducting his analysis is the labeling theory. A product of the symbolic interactionist paradigm, labeling theory posits that "a response to an act and not the behavior that determines deviance...(it) is the recognition that some people or groups have the power to define labels and apply them to others" (Schaefer, 1998:165). From this definition, Anderson's categorization of street people
Elijah Anderson's "The Code of the Streets," he introduces the idea that violence, aggression, stealing, and other socially deviant behaviors are not perceived as infractions of rules, but rather conforming to a different standard, a different set of rules. (Anderson, p. 154) Anderson does an adequate job of setting forth his ideas, along with providing sufficient evidence to support them. However, it is Anderson's detailed description of "decent" and
The study used a sample method to collect data from a variety of cities, using the Uniform Crime Report, the 2000 Census of Population and Housing, and the Census of State and Federal Adult Correction Facilities for sources (717). In this study, the dependent variable was African-American juvenile arrests "for murder, rape, robber, and aggravated assaults," which are commonly known as violent crimes (717). The independent variables, on the
Crime can be socially constructed. Both On the Run and Off the Books highlight the ways crime can be socially constructed, through erroneous models of deviance, through labeling, and through inequitable access to social, cultural, economic, and political power. Moreover, the socially constructed types of crime emerge often as a product of anomie: the negation of the norms of the dominant culture due to the strength of the subculture.
Just like pornography, everyone seems to know \"gentrification\" when they see it. See a Starbucks or Whole Foods move into a neighborhood? That's gentrification. Find out that a house sold for an exorbitant amount or that rents at some building doubled? That's gentrification. See bike lanes added to your street, or a rack of bike-share bikes pop up near a busy corner? That's gentrification. – Pete Saunders, 2017 Gentrification is one of