Introduction
In this book, the author try to put forward a fact in which the life of a gangster is culturally glamorized. The media houses depict slums in the urban centers as places that are constantly being under the terror of criminals who are very violent. As per the writer, there is a culture that is very intricate in these communities dominated by poor minorities. According to Anderson (1994), the so called “code” is an outcome of adaptations to culture and circumstances that are structurally constructed by the individuals living in these communities that are ever so violent. Situations in which individuals tend to find themselves entangled into because of their societal place are the so-called circumstances that are structurally constructed.
The authors’ main argument in writing this text was so as to highlight this “street code” i.e. an informal set of rules that now govern how individuals are to handle themselves in public or how they are to display their behavior. Violence is inclusive. These rules are known to provide the best comportment and way of responding to challenges. Having been established, these rules are known to be highly enforced by those who are oriented with the streets. Having a deep know how of this code is very defensive as you are able to know when one has violated your rights. It is thus not a surprise that even decent families opposed to this code reluctantly must teach their children these rules by encouraging them to interact with those in of the inner-city.
The theoretical perspective that I will use to explain the criminal behavior presented in this text are the subculture theory and the conflict theory.
Subculture Theory
Subculture theory is structural. This is from the fact that it is directly group influenced. Culture is a representation of values together with customs. This act as a guide to behavior and gives an appropriate framework for judging a majority of behaviors that are portrayed. It ought to be noted that culture is socially transmitted and not biologically as widely perceived. A subculture on the other hand is easily defined as a culture that is distinct and is present in another culture. Subculture theory thus tends to explain crime that is cutting across a certain society hence it is structural.
The assumptions of this theory are that it is easily distinguishable from another culture i.e. the counterculture that is always in opposite to what is considered a culture of the majority of people. Further assumptions are made through two more theories. These theories are the theory of transmission of culture and the theory of social disorganization. These two theories put it that certain behavioral forms tend to become the transmitted culture generation after another in city zones that are the poorest. Further an assumption is made that people living in urban areas always find means of putting up a certain sense of community no matter how much anonymity or any form of alienation that may be prevailing. Therefore, it is very clear that the specific tenants of this theory can only be the poorest individuals within a city who share an area that is densely populated.
The types of crimes that are typically explained by this theory are gang related crimes. Such crimes include theft in which most of the time was to share as law breaking experience that would lead to stronger peer bonds. They literally end up being friends in crime. Other crimes included vandalism. However, most of these crimes are only aimed towards ensuring a consolidation of loyalty
The major link existing between this theory and the “code of the Street” is the amount of violence present and the presence of gangs. It is not a surprise that of all the problems faced by communities of black people in United State of America; violence stands out as the most harmful of all the problems (Anderson, 1994). It is thus very easy to get an identity that is so violent from just being in this environment. The most unfortunate thing for these black people in these poor communities is the fact that this violence has shaped rules for them. They therefore just must embrace and live with this violence.
However, the component of this theory of subculture that is particularly relevant to this text is the fact that there is a lot of violence in this text. This violence is associated with gangs formed in subculture theory.
Conflict Theory
This theory is processual. This is because just like processual theories, it attempts to portray some individuals as having a high likelihood of committing crime than others. This theory is essentially based on some views with social and economic implications. This implies that the economic and social forces that operate in a society are the major contributors to the occurrence of crime. This creates an assumption that the criminal law and the system of criminal justice are only for the high and mighty, i.e., those who are rich. These establishments of criminal justice only aim at making sure that all the poor individuals are controlled by of course the rich fellows. Since too much is focused on separating those who are rich and powerful from the mere peasant, these rich fellows end up doing a lot to ensure that they are protected from attack by these poor individuals. Therefore, it leads to rights of these poor fellows especially in the suburbs to be tramped upon unnoticed.
The types of crimes explained by this theory include stealing. This crime can be placed under radical or sometimes called critical type of criminology. This might be an attempt to take what they think belong to the rich. Radical feminism leads to crimes against women majorly due to male dominance. Such crimes include incest, rape and abuse.
The link between this theory and the book “code of the street” is a view that these street codes are an adaptation towards the people’s lack of confidence in the system of judiciary and most importantly, the police. These police are seen to be returning a lot less respect than they have been receiving especially from the youth (Anderson, 1994).
The most important component of this theory is the fact that law seems to be upheld only for the rich people while down in the suburbs, it turn out to the street code.
Theory that Works Best
The theory that seems to work best in explaining crimes is the “code of the street”. This is because no matter what the politically mighty do to the poor black folks, they are always turning on each other. Therefore, they seem to be more gang affiliated and more on what this gang is doing to a member of out gang than on what the government is doing to them. The weakness of the conflict theory is the fact that code switching tends to be practiced especially by middleclass individuals.
One of the hypotheses that can be created is that violence in gangs is majorly a tool to form greater bond between its gang members. Another hypothesis could be that gang members are formed from way back while they are youths.
Conclusion
The major in my paper is that this book, “the code of the street” talks of a certain set of rules that are to be observed while in the streets. These rules are mostly because of subculture theories and sometimes also due to conflict theories. Both these theories lead to emergence of violent crime and theft. In subculture theory, it is to maintain gang ties while in conflict theory it is due to a feeling that they would be taking property that belongs to the rich man.
This work is clearly just an observation of a community at a certain time of life and at a certain place. There is no effort whatsoever to try and let us know whether violence or discrimination by institutions and racism came first or last. This thus clearly proves that he did not use an appropriate method of studying crime and violence in these inner cities. However, the major miss was the fact that in this book, there are women and older people in the society. These two groups of people are the ones who face a lot of racism and immense amounts of discrimination institutionally. The writer does not however let us know why they are neither violent nor criminals, especially the young women.
One of the major insights that I gained from this book was the fact that most people in the inner city are faced with no choice at all. They are either to play by the rules of the street or become faced out. In the streets, there is truly less help from the authorities and your neighbors and family truly matter in these streets.
Reference
Anderson, E. (1994). Code of the street: decency, violence, and the moral life of the Inner city. New York: WW Norton & Company.