Summary And Analysis Of The Saints And Roughnecks

Stereotyping plays a large role in the events of S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders. The two main opposing groups, the Socs and Greasers, constantly face problems because of the stereotypes associated with their social groups. As seen in the novel, stereotypes and prejudice cause extreme and unnecessary conflicts. Both groups have predetermined opinions of the other, but as the story progresses, many of the characters begin to realize how similar the groups can be. The stereotypes observed in the novel can easily be compared to those in real life. Both the Greasers and the Socs share many of their opinions with the other members of their groups, and this leads to many misunderstandings. In fact, most of the conflicts in the novel are caused

Robberies, violence and drug-dealing transgressions are a constant fear of many. The decent families although opposed to the norms of the ghetto, encourage their children to understand and respect the code of the streets in an effort to protect themselves. Also, many youths in the inner-cities try to behave as others within their sub-culture. A child might dress or speak a certain way that a race is labeled to be standard to fit in. For example, a Caucasian individual may dress in baggy clothes and speak in slang in public to imitate what people label the African American youth to be uniform. However, this individual in some instances could act completely different at home or in other environments such as family gatherings or church.

Society has a way of making assumptions based on one’s physical characteristics. Often at times we categorize individuals to a particular social group. In regard to society’ perception of an individual this however, contributes to the development of social construction of racism. Most people want to be identified as individuals rather than a member of specific social group. As a result, our social identity contains different categories or components that were influenced or imposed. For example, I identify as a, Jamaican, Puerto Rican and a person of color. I identify racially as a person of color and ethically as Jamaican and Puerto Rican. According to Miller and Garren it’s a natural human response for people to make assumptions solely

Socialization is the lifelong process of learning rules for adapting to social and cultural normality. Learning to follow societal rules is what allows people to survive, thrive and integrate into groups and communities within society. Through the observation of others, people begin to develop core values, beliefs and morals. This builds bonds and develops a sense of belonging within a given group. In the documentary, A Class Divided, the power of socialization is demonstrated as a third-grade teacher gives her class a hands-on lesson in discrimination and bias by separating her class in to in-groups and out-groups. This lesson not only gives a glimpse into the power of socialization showing how biases can be created, but it also helps

Those who remain on the less privileged, less educated side of the black community resent their peers who have degrees and white collar jobs. They feel that these successful black men and women no longer have a connection to where they came from. This “class” rift is not only limited to black adults, but occurs in school age children and teenagers. Many small black children who dress well and have high grades in school are made fun of and picked on by their less fortunate peers. Black high school students who drive nice cars and live in upper-class neighborhoods are sometimes labeled as “bourgeois” by their peers who come from working or lower class families.

Race and gender are two facets that inherently dominate individuals everyday lives. A person’s social environment, work environment, and educational environment is congruent to their race and gender. From birth, it has been set up that everyone is assigned to a label. A pink or blue blanket is swaddled around a newborn child and a box is checked signifying that child’s place in society. These two actions ultimately define how a child is to be viewed and treated. As children grow into young adults they either decide to stick with their original assignment, while others decide to deviate from it. These individuals deviation results in many of them being viewed harshly and looked down upon because they strayed from their social norms. This constant cycle of being classified and labeled from birth is the social institution of gender and race. These social institutions aid in the inequality that is present in society, and race and gender are shaped by this. However, if these social institutions were removed, race and gender could dissipate. This is due to the fact that race and gender are not real, but are socially constructed concepts used to organize the power, or dominance, within our society to one social group over the other groups.

Based on what occurs often in a society, that will most likely become a norm to a person within that society. For example, if a young man grows up in an area where a majority of the people in that area sell and does drugs then he will most likely grow up to sell and do drugs as well. Knowing this, it is easier for the police to come to this area and do drug raids which will result in high incarceration. Now everyone in this area is labeled as criminals which may causes association to others of the same race but live in different areas. Now every time police see an African American, they will associate them as a criminal which has led to the injustice formed against African

On a daily basis one has the ability of witnessing individuals of different social classes interact, mix, and sunder into groups amongst themselves. As one observes people interacting with each

Throughout history, there have been good people and bad ones, and a major deciding factor in this is background. The chances of being dissatisfactory are often increased if a person has a low income or the person is living in a poor neighborhood and is a person of color. These illegal activities that are commonly found in poorer areas often lead a person down the wrong path in life. These paths are not the path to success, but a path to a jail cell. The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore demonstrates the effects of drugs and violence, two common actions that end up with an unfortunate aftermath. Bryan Stevenson mentions the consequences of being bad differ due to race and wealth in his TED Talk, “We need to talk about injustice”. In “Brown VS. Board of Education: 50 years later segregation by Income”, Nanette Asimov reports how “wealth has created separate and unequal schools”, this article relates to Bryan Stevenson’s TED Talk in the fact that the both refer to how schools have unequal opportunities due to money, which is a factor of background. 60 Minutes reports David Cash’s story, should he be charged for his actions? Raised in a poor neighborhood where parents are unable to pay their bills, a child’s chances of success are significantly lower than a child whose parents can provide every wish for them. A child who was raised in a poor neighborhood, has much greater chances of having a worse outcome in life, due to the influences of the poor neighborhood and what people have

In highschool this type of conflict arises very often. On a daily basis, students form themselves in “cliques.” Some cliques are quiet and keep to themselves, bystanders. Other cliques are not afraid to voice their opinion and aren’t concerned of the feelings of others, the bullies. And finally, the other set of cliques are the ones whom these “opinions” are about, the target of the bully, in this case, the minority. It’s an interesting topic to think about. How would these cliques act towards individuals, if there was no “clique?” Would the bullies still go after the target if they were alone? Would their words still be immoral? This applies to how the white moderate treated the African Americans. In the 1960’s, the white moderate bullied the minority, which were the African

Let's say you're by yourself on the subway in New York City. You get on and it's not that crowded, there's a bunch of open seats. As you look around, you notice that the car is filled with mainly high school aged kids, mostly boys. On one side there is a spot next to a bunch of African Americans, on the other side it's a posse of Asians. Okay, so where are you going to sit? Next to the Asian's I bet. What if it was Latino's instead of Blacks, chances are you would still say you'd go towards the Asian's and shy away from the more typical gang looking kids. When most people think of gangs, they don't really think Asian, it's a Black or Hispanic thing right? Well, Asian gangs have been becoming more and

In the book, Bad Boys, Ann Arnett Ferguson goes on a three-year journey through Rosa Parks Elementary School to observe and research why it is that mostly black males are ending up in jail and are unsalvageable from such a young age. She interviews and observes daily interactions with the eleven and twelve year old students that have been labeled “at risk” by their teachers and peers. She wants to research how it is being in school when all of the educators have already labeled them as “unsalvagable, at risk, and bound for jail”. These kids pretty much act in the way that their teachers treat them. They get into trouble every single day and most of the times these boys provoke it because

In his research Jay Macleod, compares two groups of teenage boys, the Hallway Hangers and the Brothers. Both groups of teenagers live in a low income neighborhood in Clarendon Heights, but they are complete opposites of each other. The Hallway Hangers, composed of eight teenagers spend most of their time in the late afternoon or early evening hanging out in doorway number 13 until very late at night. The Brothers are a group of seven teenagers that have no aspirations to just hang out and cause problems, the Brothers enjoy active pastimes such as playing basketball. The Hallway Hangers all smoke, drink, and use drugs. Stereotyped as “hoodlums,” “punks,” or “burnouts” by outsiders, the Hallway Hangers are actually a varied group, and much

Visibility in school wasn’t any different, the Saints unlike the Roughnecks were able to get out of class, due to their clean “good boy” perceptions. Once the Saints were out of the sight of instructors, they could leave almost immediately with the help of their cars— strategically parked for an effortless escape. On the other hand, the Roughnecks, didn’t enjoy the same freedom, even if one managed to get out of class, downtown was too far away for someone with no means of transportation. Additionally, the Roughnecks, drew even more attention to themselves as they frequently made remarks to people passing by. Secondly, the demeanor of both gangs were complete opposites of each other, if one of the Saints was stopped by a police officer, his “demeanor was apologetic and penitent” (Chambliss, 2011, pg. 192). On the contrary, Roughnecks, didn’t have much respect for authority, and their animosity, enmity, and aggression was clearly obvious. Finally, society members, perceived the delinquent acts of the Saints less serious than delinquent acts of the Roughnecks. In their view, someone who showcases public drunkenness is committing a more serious crime than someone who drinks in bar.

Social identity is a theory which explains how people develop a sense of belong and membership to a group. Individual’s social identity is part of their self-concept which derives from their knowledge of their membership of a social group together with the emotional significance attached to that membership (Forsyth, 13). People are influenced on the group they belong to. Belonging to the in-group makes a person feel good because they belong somewhere in this group and allows them to feel important. The out-group is where people feel to be, they do not belong to a group and have feeling of exclusion and are often times treated more harshly than someone who belongs to the ingroup. This bias of favoring the ingroup relative to the outgroup leads to false impressions being made and stereotypes forming. Stereotypes help us navigate the world around us by providing a quick representation of what we think a person is like. This does not mean our perceptions are always correct and occasionally, this quick mental shortcut can get us into trouble. For example, the film 12 Angry Men stereotyping was rampant among the jury. When a stereotype is used it can cause a disruption of procedures. Instead, of inspecting all the evidence with an objective eye a bias can allow for systematic