social disorganization theory: subcultural

William Julius Wilson

points to people knowing people are aware their is violence, gangs, etc. There are some people who know this and want to leave. However, things like having access private sector jobs

pruitt-Igoe housing project

They way St. Louis tried to deal with poverty was by trying to provide affordable housing.

• architectural failure

people tend to look at this as. failure due to a race, the govt funding of this project, etc

1952: Housing project is built

• 33 buildings, housing 12k people

  • pruit - predom. white

  • igoe - predom black

issues:

• Population and business shifts

• Maintenance funded by residents, but low residents

1972 - 1st buildings razed/demo

• housing alone could not del with troubles of urban poor

but could it predict that cities were shrinking?

high rise buildings

maintenance of these buildings are expensive

code of the street

lead academic: Anderson, 1999

ethnographer

what he finds is that crime is not random, there are hotspots, and in particular he points to urban inner city seem to consistently get the worst (joblessness, racism, drugs/gangs, alienation and hopelessness) + an hyper mistrust in police and criminal justice systems

• Ghetto circumstances so strong, oppositional culture emerges - Subcultural value of violence → as a survival mechanism

• Black boys/ men pressured to respond with violence in some situations

decent families/culture

Accept mainstream values

↑Polite & considerate of others + ↑respect authority

↑Value hard work & self‐reliance

↑Value education & religious faith

↑Work for a better future for children

↑Strict & fair with children + ↑supervision

street families/culture

↑Disorganized families

Cynicism towards mainstream values : (theyre not getting the best services, best property values, so…why try because no matter what the odds are against you)

↓Consideration of others

↓Value on education

↓Coping with parenthood difficulties

• ↓Supervision of & ↓consideration on for children’s future

• ↑Aggressive socialization of children into street code

“code of the street”

• Set of informal rules governing interpersonal public behavior

• Regulates use of violence & ways to respond if “challenged”

  • “Everyone knows there are penalties for rule violations.”

• Must have “nerve”

  • Throw the first punch

  • Take what you want

  • No fear of harm or death –never back down

The currency of “respect”

When one is competing with peers, you look around and want to at least be respected and know how hard they work

• Being treated right or being granted one’s “props”

• Respect is hard‐won, but easily lost ∴ must always be guarded

• Code provides a framework for negotiating respect

  • Daily process of earning respect via physical, verbal, & symbolic communication

• With right amount of respect, a person can avoid being bothered in public

• But if bothered, the person may feel “dissed”

  • “Disses” can seem petty/ trivial (i.e., minor slights), but…

    • Are tantamount to egregious acts of disrespect (in street code)

    • Thus often lead to physical retaliation/ violence

Self‐image based on “juice” & masculinity

demonstrating that one is willing to do what one does no matter

• Outlook & attitude

Do not see a promising future  Live for the moment/ on the edge (e.g., “nerve” & YOLO!)  Fatalism (i.e., luck + ↓fear of injury/ death)  Built around possession of things  Take what you want  Willingness to protect those things  Value aggressiveness, physicality, & ruthlessness/ street smarts  Raising yourself up depends on ability to put someone down  Vigilant against transgressions or appearance of transgressions  Retaliatory violence is an appropriate reaction (i.e., not a crime)

Ghetto circumstances so strong, that oppositional culture emerges

what Anderson argues

respect

The currency of ______ according to anderson,

Being treated right or being granted one’s “props” - Respect is hard‐won, but easily lost

must always be guarded

Code provides a framework for negotiating respect

juice

Self‐image based on “______” & masculinity

• Outlook & attitude

  • Do not see a promising future

  • Live for the moment/ on the edge (e.g., “nerve” & YOLO!)

  • Fatalism (i.e., luck +  ↓fear of injury/ death)

• Built around possession of things

  • Take what you want

  • Willingness to protect those things

• Value aggressiveness, physicality, & ruthlessness/ street smarts

  • Raising yourself up depends on ability to put someone down

  • Vigilant against transgressions or appearance of transgressions

  • Retaliatory violence is an appropriate reaction (i.e., not a crime)