Identifying Criminological Theories in 8 Mile

The torn down neighborhood, graffiti on the walls, gun shops and abandoned houses are what people living on the wrong side of 8 miles in Detroit saw in their everyday lives. Social disorganization theory according to Freda, Mueller, and Laufer (2013) is “A theory of criminality in which the breakdown of effective social bonds, primary associations, and social controls in neighborhoods and communities is held to result in the development of high crime areas” (p. 124). In the movie 8 Mile (Curtis Hanson, 2002) B-Rabbit lives in 8 mile where he is surrounded by delinquents that commit crimes, bums around the neighborhood and the alcoholic drunk of a mother he lives within a trailer park in the duration of the movie. He is a blue collar worker who does a lot of physical labor in a steel cutting factory where he tries to make a means to help support his mom and sister. But what he really hopes is to be a rapper, make a demo and sign to a label. So he goes where all other rappers go to get noticed, the “Shelter.” Rappers go and have battled to become a highly valued individual in the residential district. With such a large population that attend and participate in those battles there are less chances of any of them being sought out for a record deal. Others that lived outside of the 8 mile district thought less of the people that did live in that location. Even though they stayed together as people from the 313 there was always a better neighborhood or somebody who had it better. So who better to pick on than the white boy who survives with his alcoholic mother in a trailer, taking care of his sister, playing in a distasteful factory, and failing against the “Leaders of the Free World?” He was the perfect target just like many others th...

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... better job. After he left her everything fell apart. He left her the car and the apartment and was fired from his other job. And last Rabbit was put into more strain when he became close friends with Wink and then wink betrayed him. It got him into more trouble with him being beaten up by Winks friends and them having a lot to say about Rabbit because Wink told them where he lived and a lot about his life.
Social disorganization, differential association-reinforcement and general strain theory were all found in the many underlying messages in the movie 8 mile. In the end, I realized how many more criminological theories we could have connected to this flick and besides many other movies I’m sure people have already discovered.

Works Cited

Adler, F., Mueller G.O.W., William, L.S., (2013). Criminology (8th Ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies.
8 mile