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How does social class influence education
How does social class influence education
Short essay on social disorganization theory
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Alex Kotowits’ book, There Are No Children Here, follows two young boys over a course of two years. The environment that the children are raised in is a lower income area that is surrounded by violence, gangs, and crime. The best theory to explain this novel would be strain theory, followed by social disorganization theory. Being raised in poverty generates many issues, which then makes children rebel later in life. Many families experience different types of strain such as experience strain, vicarious strain, and anticipated strain. This not only affects the person who is experiencing strain, but also affects other people who are around them. The novel presents a good example of both general strain theory and early social disorganization theory …show more content…
The Rivers family lives in the projects, which are known as Henry Horner Homes. This is a public housing development for individuals who cannot afford other housing. The area around the housing development is taken over by gangs, where murders and shootings happen almost every day. Friends of the Rivers family ended up getting murdered on the streets because of drugs and gangs. LaJoe, their mother, raises the children with the occasional help of their father Paul. Their father is sometimes absent in the children’s life’s due to his drug addiction. Throughout the book, LaJoe was afraid that she would lose her sons from gangs that surround their neighborhood. Lafayette is forced to help his mother around the house and work a side job - washing cars near a stadium to help his mother save money. But Lafayette sometimes hangs out with the wrong crowd. For example, when Lafayette was with his friends at a video store, he got convinced to steal a tape, but ended up getting caught by the store manager. LaJoe was terrified that Lafayette was going to turn out like his older brother Terrence, who got incarcerated for armed robbery. Toward the end of the book, Lafayette was arrested for allegedly breaking into a truck and had to go to court and was found guilty. As for Pharaoh, he was always the child who impressed LaJoe when it came to school. He loved the spelling bee and …show more content…
Paul, who is the father of the eight children, shows up sporadically throughout the book. LaJoe and Paul split up because he was addicted to drugs. Paul worked for the local sewer department, making $350 to $450 every two weeks. Instead of providing for his family, Paul would spend all the money on drugs. This put the family in a stressful situation because they could not afford the necessities that they needed. Paul was so dependent on drugs to the point where he would steal money from his own children. The children knew about Paul’s drug problem, which caused them to act out. One morning, Lafeyette could not find his dog anywhere in the apartment. He immediately assumed that his father sold the dog for drug money. Paul was at the apartment that day with his mother sitting on the couch watching television. All the sudden, Lafeyette stormed in the room and up to his father, accused him of stealing his dog and called him a dope fiend. Lafeyette was so angry his “right fist came smashing into the side of his father’s temple” . Paul said “You’re fourteen. You’re of age. You want to be a man, okay, you got a choice to be a man” . All of the sudden, Paul started hitting Lafeyette. LaJoe did not know how to handle the situation and began to break up the fight. This example displays how strain affects the relationship with the father and son because they used instrumental relief to relieve
Pharoah is the younger brother to Lafeyette, LaShawn, and Terence. He is an intelligent person. His mother LaJoe wants Pharaoh to do well in life. She thinks that he has the motivation to do whatever he would like to do. Pharoah has a lisp that makes him work harder in becoming a better person throughout the novel. "Pharoah was different, not only from Lafeyette but from the other children, too. He didn't have many friends, except for Porkchop, who was always by his side... Pharoah got so lost in his daydreams that LaJoe had to shake him to bring him back from his flights of fancy. Those forays into distant lands and with other people seemed to help Pharoah fend off the ugliness around him" (15). Pharoah was changed throughout the novel, overcoming his lisp and becoming confident in himself that he could one day escape the Horner homes.
All eight children had the same father, Paul, to whom LaJoe had been married to for seventeen years. The two had long ago fallen out of love. He lived at the home occasionally
...y. As the book showed ?dad yells and blames everyone, mom yells at the kids, the older children yell at the younger children, and the youngest child kicks the cat.? (Carceral, 2004, pp. 200). The youngest child is not able to understand what is really going on and feels worthless and not loved without conditions. This child will turn to where they will get attention. This can lead to undesirable associates and into crime. As the child grows older, and has children of this/her own the syndrome is passed on.
Boyz N the Hood is a classic film for African American culture and depicts juvenile delinquency in the tough streets of L.A. They can relate all too well to the situations these three best friends went through. To apply this movie to the life-course perspective and strain theories we have to analyze these three boy’s realities from a structural, social and cultural level to determine why they ended up deviant and they way they started off. Sampson and Laub’s theory was, criminal activity as well as elements preventative of crime, change throughout the life-course. While all of the criminals have some form of a shared beginning. While Merton’s strain theories revolve around five different types, that puts people into certain categories; conformity,
The older of the two boys, Lafayette, takes on the role of co-parent and support system for his mother by worrying about his younger siblings’ well being, who their friends are and to if they ducking bullets properly in the hallway. He has four younger siblings a brother a few years young than he is and a set of triples. He especially kept a watchful eye on his brother Pharaoh who was weaker and easily intimidated. At one point in the story Lajoe realized that because of her husband absence and lack close adult relationships she had placed an enormous amount of responsibility on Lafayette’s shoulders. Lajoe said, “The things I should be telling Paul about I was talking to Lafie, I put him in a bad place. But I didn’t have anyone to talk to. Lafie, became a twelve year old man that day.”(101) Lafayette had lost his childhood somewhere in the projects. He lived in constant fear for his life and the lives of those he cared about. He tried to stay out of trouble and to avoid dealing with the gangs. But when you come from the projects it was hard to stay out of trouble. There were many occasions when the police wrongly accused Lafayette and his older brother, Terrence. As Lafayette got older found it harder to avoid the older boys and not get caught up in the fast crowd.
Henry Horner Homes, an inner-city housing project, is the setting in which the story of two boys growing up in America’s inner-city occurs. The story tracks the River’s family, particularly the two middle boys, Lafeyette and Pharoah, focusing on the strife-ridden times of drugs, death, gangs, and poverty. The author describes how devastating life in the inner city is for a family, but mainly for the children.
The brothers live with their parents but they are not average parents, they are drug addicts. They aren 't only drug addicts but they steal all of Michel’s and Bug’s clothes to sell for more drug money, they also don 't purchase any food. The little money and food that they come across they take and once again, his parents either eat it or use it to buy more drugs for themselves. The brothers are basically living on their own. Their parents do not love them or provide for the brothers nevertheless the brothers are considered a burden to his parents. When Michel and Bug come home they feels scared and as if he should not be there, and that is not how one should feel at home, they should be able to walk in the door to a smiling family that shows him unconditional love and provide for him. Not steal their belongings and use what they can to buy drugs and
Strain theory suggests that crime is a result of people’s goals and the means available to achieve them. Nino Brown’s ultimate goal is to obtain the American Dream which means having a lot of money. It is implied in his criminal behavior that he does not view the legitimate means as a way of achieving that goal. As a man who is undereducated and Black, the normal means of achieving the American Dream are pail in comparison to the illegal means. In fact, he sees the illegal means as more effective; this is the Anomie. The Anomie theory holds that socially defined goals are mandated, but the means to achieve them are stratified by class and society. The Cash Money Brothers program The Carter is built on a culture of poverty that has developed abnormally as a result of crack cocaine, and crime becomes the answer as a result of a breakdown in family, school, and employment. The Social Disorganization theory, in New Jack City, would mean that the criminal behavior demonstrated by the Cash Money Brothers is direct result of a serious degradation in the quality of capable guardians, the school system, and the absence of legitimate jobs stemming from Raegonomics. Therefore, the drive for material wealth dominates and undermines social and community values, thereby, providing room for criminal behavior to become more appealing and effective
When examining this particular field of study two main subjects come to mind, the struggle and the trouble. Most researchers in this field have focused their research on one of these two main proposals. The trouble is defined as the ending result from engaging in these activities, the effect in which is derived from the cause. The other aspect is the struggle, which involves; insecurity, peer pressure, and survival (putting food on the table), among other things. In this particular piece of research the struggle will be explored. For example, typical struggles that are faced by these subjects are low socioeconomic backgrounds, broken homes, and verbal and physical abuse. There is no doubt some of this population engages in these unwarranted activities for non-survival reasons, but for the most part, the majority involves themselves because it’s their distinct way of coping.
The behavior of juveniles is very drastically affected by the families in crisis. Psychologist Eric Berman gives describes a family in crisis and the subsequent effect on a child through an article from his book, Scapegoat where Berman tells how an eight-year-old boy’s personal problems and subsequent behavior resulted from an effort to repress the family’s basic problem: “During the year, Roscoe’s father had been sick with a heart condition and now was on the brink of death. Open heart surgery was his only hope, and the doctors Gave him a few months to live. Despite the tragic implications of these circumstances and the fact that the child’s father could die at any time, the family never talked about his condition or their own future.” Children
When two siblings are born together, and are close in age, many people wonder whether they will be the same or different altogether. A “River Runs through it” shows two brothers who grew up in the same household, and grew up loving to do the same activity fly fishing. Both brothers were raised in a very strict presbyterian household. Norman is the older brother, and he is much more responsible and family orientated. Paul is the irresponsible younger brother; Paul as an adult was not at home much anymore. Both brothers were loved equally as children, but how they view and use love is what separates them. Paul and Norman differ in behavior and character.
Paul has an addiction to alcohol that has greatly devastated his life, but he also has a problem with gambling. Paul’s gambling started shortly after his alcoholism and his problems are all related. This is demonstrated when Norman states “… tell my mother and father that my brother had been beaten by the butt of a revolver and his body dumped in an alley” (Maclean 102). His addiction caused a cycle of problems, starting with his alcohol addiction, which led to gambling and from there stemmed money problems. Ultimately his alcoholism left him dead in an alley with his family wondering how it all happened, because he was not connected to them. His life was literally destroyed because of a few thoughtless decisions he made while intoxicated. All of his life problems and experiences are connected by one thing: his need to get a short rush of happiness from alcohol. His past decisions all added up and ended up killing him, and if he would have made wiser decisions in the past he might be still
Anomie and social disorganization theory are reasoning as why individual turn to crimes. The focus is on the macro level (anomie) and micro level (social disorganization theory) of external environmental factors contributing to criminal behaviors. I think social disorganization theory is more beneficial in deterring crimes. It is more manageable to transform a neighborhood or concentrated area than a societal norm. The movement will require equivocal amount of resources with noticeable. By influencing changes at the micro level, as individual transition out of the area, they can impinge a positive attitude in a new environment. As numerous changes occurs on the micro level, it will eventually metamorphose into the macro level.
There are many factors that influence youth violence and as well, various effects that it may have on the surrounding world. Homes containing absent parents, a low income, and substance abuse, have negative effects on the children, making them become more at risk for violent behaviour (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). Children raised in these types of families tend to relay the same behaviour on to their future families and children since the family is the first primary method of socialization (Voisin, 2007, pg 53). A child is at risk for violence if they have been a victim or an observer of violence in their past. Youth violence may also develop if the child has a mental disability, a low intelligence level or is extremely introverted (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). Peers and the community also ...
Crime exists everywhere. It is exists in our country, in the big cities, the small towns, schools, and even in homes. Crime is defined as “any action that is a violation of law”. These violations may be pending, but in order to at least lower the crime rate, an understanding of why the crimes are committed must first be sought. There are many theories that are able to explain crimes, but three very important ones are rational choice theory, social disorganization theory and strain theory.