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, …show more content…
Merton’s theory consists of five things. Conformity is when one accepts conventional goals and strive to earn those goals through socially accepted means. The kids in the neighborhood, their shared beginning, could most likely not afford to attend college at USC. So some of them could apply for a community college. But realistically college was not a common goal for the kids, completing high school and going was even struggle. In their shared beginning we see innovation the most. The people accepting cultural goals, but rejecting the accepting way of achieving them. Instead of getting a job to have these means, they often resort to selling jobs or living off of robberies. They want money and items money can buy, but they do not want to have a job or work. This relates to all of the gang activity we see. Parents in the neighborhoods however, can be applied to ritualism. Single mother’s working one or two minimum wage jobs to support their families. They gave up on achieving the goal, but they still continue to practice the socially accepted practices for obtaining jobs. They are working these minimum wage, under-paid jobs forever to support their family. While some parents ae resulting to ritualism, even more result to retreatism in these communities. They are completely rejecting the accepted ways of achieving goals. Drug addicts and alcoholics are a common scene in the movie, those people fit into this category. Gangs which are the most common theme and factor in the movie is compared to rebellion. These people reject accepted goal and means, while replacing them with new ones. Gang activity in the movie in a sense of family and acceptance by creating their own goals and
The inner city described in the story mimics social disorganization theory. This theory suggests that the consequences of urban decay are due to the lack of social stability and cohesion, which results in a higher rate of delinquency and crimes. In this Philadelphia inner city, it is obviously socially disorganized and has led to many members of the community to have no community connection, resulting in taking part in deviant/violent acts. Another theory that emerges from this book is routine activity theory. Routine activity theory is based on the premise that your lifestyle determines whether or not you will commit a crime. This theory conveys that the people you interact with are not your choice, it depends on where you are raised and the community you are
The book emphasizes the idea of how difficult it is to leave the gang lifestyle. There are frequent cases of relapse by individuals in the book, who were once out to again return to gangs. This case is brought by what gangs represent to this in the book and what leaving entails them to give up. The definition of gangs presented to the class was, three or more members, share name, color, or affiliation, or must exist in a geopolitical context. To members associated with gangs, this definition can include your family members, neighborhood, everyone that they associate with. Take for example Ronnie from Jumped in by Jorja Leap it states,” Ronny’s role models are gangbangers. His family is a hood. His mentors are older homies in county jail.”(102). Ronnie and other gang members like him do not
There are many stories shared in this book about the boys and their crimes. Most of the boys have physical abuse, drug addictions, gang affiliations or a combination of these in their background. Several of them have been bounced around to their grandparents, aunts and uncles or even foster care.
For centuries now, gangs have been all over America, causing violence and ruining the youths opportunities. Children's lives can be ruined joining a gang leading into violence and substance abuse. From the earlier 20th Century, to now, gangs have been an issue in low income cities and neighborhoods. In Jacob Saenz’s poem, “Evolution of My Block”, written in 1982, Saenz describes to the readers how the gang life was in his neighborhood and on his block. Throughout the poem, he talks about the pressure of gangs and how they functioned. His poem speaks more than what is actually said and hides many of his thoughts through the words and rhymes. The poem conveys many messages and specific aspects which have to deal with culture and race. The narrator
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
In his observation of the boys, he finds that these boys are criminalized by many social forces besides the police. “I found that schools pushed out boys who had been victimized.” (pg. 6). Many boys feel that their school system blames them for crimes that have occurred in their area, or as a danger to other students in the classroom. These boys think that these experiences of victimization are part of their street life. Rios says that if the institutions of social control believe that all young people follow the code of the street, then programs and interactions with margined youth’s will be based on this false information. This dishonest perception of youth is what leads to their
The brothers’ vigilante deviance has many causes, all stemming form the Social theory of deviance. The Labeling, Conflict and Strain theories are three of the most important theories for understanding what caused the brothers to start, continue, and stop killing the mafia. Each of the theories plays a part in causing the brothers’ to kill, but without all of them they would not have the acceptance and success that they did. These theories, even though they are meant for the real world are just as relevant for works of fiction in movies and books.
Anderson’s theory examined African Americans living in America’s inner cities that are driven to follow the “street code” and work to maintain respect, loyalty, and their own self-image. The “street code” Anderson is referring to is “a cultural adaptation” which is the cause of violent crime in America’s inner cities (Anderson Article PDF, 3). Since these people are living in mainly impoverished neighborhoods with easy access to drugs and guns, as well as high rates of crime and violence, “everyone feels isolated and alienated from the rest of America” (Vold, 187). Anderson continues to distinguish between “decent” people and “street people.” Those who are “decent” families live in accordance with a “civil code” that upholds values in comparison with the rest of society such as maintaining a job, obtaining an education, protecting their children and following the law. Additionally, “street” families tend to fend for themselves, and when young, grow up without adult supervision and are often abused. This alone causes a dangerous environment because children then, “learn that to solve any kind of interpersonal problem one must quickly resort to hitting or other violent behavior” (Anderson Article PDF, 5). When brought up in an inner city “street” family, racism is a leading factor that causes the youth to construct a negative outlook on the rest of society. When these inner city, lo...
In the movie “Boyz in the Hood” director John Singleton, paints a clear image of the problems that happen very often in the African American communities. The movie deals with issues such as: the importance of a father in a young man’s life, the ongoing violence of black on black crime, and how black people are put in situations where they are put to fail and not succeed in life.
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 can be learned from considering each member (Macleod p. 162). The Brothers attend high school on a regular basis and none of them participate in high-risk behaviors, such as smoke, drink, or do drugs.
This can be applied to American society, where the society may lean too heavily towards either of these social structures. This can then create stress where stressing over goals mean that any form of achieving them becomes acceptable. Merton was more interested on the overemphasis on goals and how that may have generated antisocial behavior. This behavior arises when the expectation that all members of society should exhibit success but run into restrictions on legitimate means to succeed. He says that the cult of success can create illegitimate means because the violator knows the rules of the game, but the validation of success outweighs the weak imperative to play by the rules. He states, “…Crime… [And] the entire catalogue of proscribed behavior, becomes increasingly common when the emphasis on the culturally induced success-goal becomes divorced from a coordinated institutional emphasis” (Merton 675-676). This is shown in the Crips and Bloods documentary because the individuals in both gangs know what they do is wrong, such as dealing drugs, but they still need to be successful by having money and having good appearance by dressing nicely. It is difficult for them to go by the rules when at one point, the whites did not give them
All in all, Boyz N’ the Hood seems to be the epitome of deviance and social control examples. The whole premise of the movie relies upon it. Through the various theories such as: Differential association, Control-bond theory, Labeling theory, Rational-choice theory, and the Strain theory Boyz N’ the Hood can be seen through a new scope. Certain aspects of the film become more apparent when compared to just watching the film for entertainment.
Cloward and Ohlin Differential Opportunity theory merged ideas from Merton’s Strain theory and the Robert Merton’s strain theory and the Chicago school on how criminal behavior is learned through cultural transmission (Lilly et al.2010). The Chicago school was based off Edwin Sutherland’s Differential Association theory and the research from the Chicago school played a immense role for these two theorists to understand criminal behavior and develop their own theory. Robert Merton’s Strain theory solely focuses on the American Dream and the failure to achieve economic success, in particular his research looked at the social structure barriers for the lower class (Bernburg 2002).
Strain theories of criminal behaviour have been amongst the most important and influential in the field of criminology. Taking a societal approach, strain theories have sought to explain deficiencies in social structure that lead individuals to commit crime (Williams and McShane 2010). Strain theories operate under the premise that there is a societal consensus of values, beliefs, and goals with legitimate methods for achieving success. When individuals are denied access to legitimate methods for achieving success, the result is anomie or social strain. This often leads an individual to resort to deviant or criminal means to obtain the level of success that they are socialized to pursue. This is the basic premise of strain theory. This paper will explore the evolution of strain theories by first examining their intellectual foundations which laid the foundation for Robert Merton’s theories of anomie and strain. Merton’s strain theory will be discussed in detail including the modes of adaptation that people use when faced with societal strain. Finally, the paper will conclude with the strengths and weaknesses of Merton’s strain theory and an examination of the criminological theories and social policies it has influenced.
This could explain the effect of strains on crime by taken this theory into account. Once strain causes bonds to weaken amongst conventional groups and institutions such as family, school, and peer networks will open up doors to delinquent behaviors, because by being in these social roles causes the person to regulate by role expectations.