Decent and Street People in the Code of the Streets by Elijah Anderson

Anderson makes a strong case for the inevitability of ghetto life--in other words, once "ghettoization" begins, it continues its course without regard to a neighborhood's tentative and transitory movement toward gentrification. The middle class and well-heeled whites and minority cultures who move into regenerating urban communities are attracted to city life for its vibrancy and "charm," yet they ultimately are playing with fire when it comes to sharing the same neighborhood which was formerly the turf of gangs, prostitutes, drug dealers, and other societal deviants. Such areas are frequently called "colorful," when they are, in fact, dangerous. Charm and color quickly turn to fear and suspicion after more than enough reports of car break-ins, gang retaliations, and drug deals gone bad fill the local news. As Anderson (1990) points out in his conclusion:

Everyone wants to be a part of the streets but not everyone has the heart, dedication, or strength to live the lifestyle. There is a law of ethics when running around in the streets. There are rules that one always has to follow in order to survive. There is no love when dealing with those that follow the code, ones heart has to be made coal because anything can happen and anything goes. Out there in the streets you are a family that continuously looks out for each other and let nothing separate the bond that you have on the streets. In this paper I will discuss what the code of the street is and what is consist of, also residential segregation and how it hold those in the streets back from achieving success.

He noted that other sociological theories of crime believed that since crime is bad, individuals involved in crime are also inherently bad. Tannenbaum disputed the notion perpetrated by other sociological theories that crime was the result of the individual’s inability to adjust to the society. On the contrary, he argued that deviants view themselves as part of a particular group in the society, where their behavior is acceptable by other group members.

Becker’s view is also supported by Cicourel who looks at police and probation officers in California. He had similar findings to other police studies as he found that officers were more likely to arrest people who they saw as typical offenders. This meant that law enforcement showed a class bias and that the police spent more time patrolling poorer areas hence arresting more working class people. This then made it seem as though there stereotypes were correct when in fact it was just that they were watching these areas more closely than middle class areas.

7) In criminological theories, we saw how police activity is largely geared towards minor visible crimes committed by individuals from the lower stratums of society as oppose to “white collar crimes” committed by those of higher stratums (Dubé, CRM 3701, 2011). Abolitionists argue that by severely punishing some of the poor in order to deter society from committing crimes; we are only further contributing to the inequalities in today’s society.

Anderson describes the importance of self-presentation when developing a social identity within the community. The Code of the Street stats that one must gain respect from others by maintaining that tough guy image. One’s image plays a huge role in how one is perceived as well as respected. Even though this code is recognized, not all residents embody the tough person act. Anderson distinguishes this image into two groups between “decent families” and “street families” within inner city communities.

Elijah Anderson is a sociologist who is also the author of Code of the Streets. His main purpose of this book was to conduct research in poor inner city neighborhoods. He wanted to know why people who reside in certain neighborhoods act the way they do. Anderson wanted to understand how people follow the Code of the Stress and what influences them to follow this code. The code of the streets is defined as a set of unwritten rules an individual follows when they are in the streets or in the hood.

In this paper, I plan to first describe the “Code of the Street” which is a term coined and a book written by Elijah Anderson. I would also summarize and describe two journal articles that test Anderson’s idea of the “Code of the Street” for a more definite explanation. I will tell how the two articles that I have chosen relates to some of the concepts that Anderson talked about in the book. I will then define general strain theory and social learning or differential association theory. Lastly, I will explain how general strain theory and social learning theory or differential association theory explain some of the behaviors that were seen by the individuals in the book published by Anderson. I will point out some of the individual’s behavior and demonstrate whether it may lead to crime or whether the behavior was learned in any way.

Anderson’s second point is about family lives. There are tons of kids that are living on the street, in abandoned cars and houses. Their homes are usually taken over by drugs and are compromised. Because these children are looking for protection, they often turn to the ‘drug kings’ of their community. These types of people are who shape the guys that are going to take their place in the drug community once they retire. Decent families on the other hand, accept mainstream values and instill a sense of responsibility in their younger family members. These types of families are usually thought of as non-Whites.

By far the most interesting topic to me the semester was The Code of The Streets by Elijah Anderson. After reading this, I started searching for solutions in my head. I refuse to believe that this is “how things are”. It’s unacceptable. The “eye for an eye” and “snitches get stitches” mentality that the people who live in black inner city communities is very troubling. What’s even more troubling is the fact that it’s due to their lack of faith in the justice system, rightfully so. These people are living in a world where they believe that the police are against them. The police, who are supposed to be their protectors are, in many cases, doing the opposite. However, I don’t believe that police officers are the enemy. I do think that everyone,

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

In Crips and the Bloods we see multiple examples of labels continuing crime. First off, most of the children born in this area are black and poor. Already they are labeled and stereotyped as being dangerous to communities, useless to society, and destined for failure. One man says “I grew up in the hood, I was born in the hood, I was raised in the hood, and I’m going to die in the hood. I didn’t choose my destiny, my destination chose me” (Peralta, 2008). This phrase demonstrates the power of a label. He was born into a community of violence and gangs and there is no way for him to escape it. Because he was born into this particular setting, this man now considers himself a person from “the hood,” he behaves in ways that are congruent with society’s idea of what some from the “hood” would behave like. In order to uphold his label, the viewer notices that this man dresses and speaks in a manner that is consistent with the “hood” label. Of course these things are not criminal, but this example demonstrates the unescapable power of a label.

As asserted by Bohm & Vogel, Conflict Criminology assumes that society is based on a conflict between competing interest groups which may not always be equal in resources and power and where one group is dominate and the other subordinate. Examples of such groups are women vs. men, corporations vs. labor groups, whites vs. minorities and children vs. authority figures (2011). Here the assertion is that one’s behavior is based on their position in society, and as the stigma associated with crime and criminal behavior is the result of the dominant groups' ability to do so. As the dominant group uses crime as a means of diverting the attention away from their actions, it redirects the focus of the subordinate groups on one another thereby allowing

To understand the effects of Becker’s statement for crime statistics and crime studies, we must understand what Becker’s statement is about. Becker’s statement is also known as the labelling perspective. The labelling perspective is the idea that someone only becomes deviant once society itself deems it fit that the act is irregular. The act itself is not defiant; it is the reaction towards the act that labels, whether someone is a criminal or not. For example, Rosa Park’s and the Montgomery Bus Boycott was seen as an act of defiance in 1955 due to the segregation that was a norm back then, whereas in today’s society an act like that would be seen as normal and not a crime at all. This shows that it is the society’s action towards an act that

The legal definition of crime simply points to punishable offences in statute and takes no account of crime as a “social construction” – this is the idea that it is not some quality of the act that renders it criminal, rather it is the reaction of society, a viewpoint central to Becker’s Labelling Theory . What we understand as “crime” is not inherently criminal and has been shaped by society. As Muncie asserts, “crime has