Getting Ghost, an ethnographic research carried out by Luke Bergmann in 2000, shows how culture shapes and gives meaning to the lives of the adolescent African American males in inner city Detroit. Many African Americans had migrated to Detroit in the 1920s at the promise of employment in the automotive industry, however, after the industry began to dissolve in the 1970s, Detroit’s inner-city population began to be hit with a strong economic downfall (Background Sheet 2014,1). Subsequently, drug dealing in Detroit became widespread in the 1970s and 1980s, leading to a strong drug and convict culture which has affected many of the youth over multiple generations (Background Sheet 2014,1). A common practise in the African American population …show more content…
Dude Freeman, a 17 year old kid in the juvenile centre, talks about the drug dealing experience he encountered as being a ‘family-owned’ thing and described the ways in which people in the hood interacted. He said him and his brothers had a motto- “OFF”, meaning ‘only fuck with family.’(Bergmann 2008, 108). This motto shaped Dude’s interactions, really emphasising the importance of sticking with family as at the end of the day, they’re the only ones you can trust to have you back and look out for you. This was something Dude later learnt after getting snitched in to the police by a group of so-called friends for something he wasn’t fully responsible for (Bergmann 2008, 9). Dude also described the drug culture in a way that resembled a ritualistic act- “It used to be that I’d say, ‘Well, the only reason I’m doing this is to get something a whole lot better...I’m selling dope to take care of my mama.’. But that ain’t even the truth. I’m selling dope really just to be selling.” (Bergmann 2008, 110). This is ritualistic in the fact that it is seen as the necessary thing to do in the ghetto, and it appears to serve a purpose for the individuals doing it but oftentimes the reason for doing it becomes blurred as with Dude, where he’s not sure if he’s selling drugs to help out his family or just doing it for the sake of …show more content…
A big reason why this is; youth in these particular communities are used to growing up with family members making lots of money selling drugs, and see hardworking family members working legitimate jobs barely making ends meet. This really disheartens them from continuing with school as Rodney Phelps says to another young kid in the Juvenile detention system, “…you still a kid, basically, how you going to be making six an hour, when you can be stacking real money, slinging?” (Bergmann 2008, 159). This shows the attitudes of people in the community, which in turn affects the decision making of young men in these families. The drug dealing culture really shapes family life in Detroit by being normalized and seen as a way to make huge amounts of money albeit the risk of incarceration increasing exponentially. These young people often grow up in broken families or with multiple family members in prison for drug related crimes such as Dude Freeman, who had his father die of cancer, one of his brothers on the run from the police, the other locked-up, and a mother in dialysis (Bergmann 2008, 110). With family members often coming into contact with the justice system, like many other young males, Dude knew that you could only truly trust family in the end to not snitch or sell you out. This makes
Phillippe Burgois, the author of In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio, lived in East Harlem doing research for 3 years. His wife and child also lived with him during this time. Burgois was interested in studying the social and economic aspects of East Harlem, also known as El Barrio. His research required him to be closely involved with the crack dealers in the area. In my review, I will first, summarize the main points of the book.
Much like the Bronx, Joshua Febres’ story has a rough and tumble element, a product of the environment in which he was raised in. Growing up next to a junkyard, Joshua references it multiple times in his 1 In 8 Million profile, citing it as “a place that meant everything to me.” With his older brother dabbling in selling cocaine, he was attracted to the “high roller” lifestyle in which his brother was living. Joshua started selling cocaine at the age of 13. As he was on his corner, there were a group of guys that took a liking to him; members of the Crips.
This African-American culture within Detroit shapes and gives meaning to the lives of Dude Freeman and Rodney Phelps. The overarching cultural element of African-American culture within Detroit affecting the two main interlocutors is the street drug trade. The culture of the street drug trade can be thought of as having three overarching effects on the adolescents which shape and give meaning to their lives, economic effects, kinship effects, and political effects.
This also relates to Bergmann’s quote in the beginning of this essay, as this ongoing drug trade changes how the young people in the society view the length of natural life and timely death. Gun violence directly cuts off the future life and aspirations for the criminal and the victim, as one’s life is cut short by death while the other’s is cut short by life in jail. This endemic gun violence and the early deaths and prison sentences create a scenario where as Bergmann describes “there are few living models of the drug-hustling adult to which young drug dealers turn in Detroit.” This is also present in Dude’s own life as his own brother’s life is cut short by his life long prison sentence as a direct cause of the drug trade. This instead causes him to take part in this same trade.
How well Wes Moore describes the culture of the streets, and particularly disenfranchised adolescents that resort to violence, is extraordinary considering the unbiased perspective Moore gives. Amid Moore’s book one primary theme is street culture. Particularly Moore describes the street culture in two cities, which are Baltimore and the Bronx. In Baltimore city the climate and atmosphere, of high dropout rates, high unemployment and poor public infrastructure creates a perfect trifecta for gang violence to occur. Due to what was stated above, lower income adolescent residents in Baltimore are forced to resort to crime and drugs as a scapegoat of their missed opportunities.
(17) An individual response towards the marginalisation of mainstream society resulted in the development of an “inner city street culture”: a complex web of beliefs, symbols, modes of interaction, value and ideologes . ( 8) The street culture of resistance is a spontaneous set of rebellious practices, which oppose mainstream society and offers an alternative forum for autonomous personal dignity. Street culture of resistance is perpetuated in East Harlem in a way that it has become an inherent characterstic of the community and the indviduals who live there. The underground economy however, involves its participants in lifestyles of violence, substance abuse, and internalised rage.
The research method that Dwight Conquergood used is that of ethnographic fieldwork, which is one of the early qualitative research methodologies, involving the combination of fieldwork and observation, which seeks to understand the cultural phenomena that reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group (Boundless.com). This type of research method, allowed the author to immerse himself in a long-term participation in the day to day life in Chicago’s Albany Park and the Latin Kings Nation that operated within Albany Park. He wanted to have the firsthand experience for himself, in so much that he chose to live in the so-called “Big Red” housing area, which as he described as the microcosm of the community. In
Tally’s Corner is the sociological interpretation of the culture of Negro streetcorner men. Elliot Liebow sets out to expose the hypocrisies that lead black men in this circumstance. The study is carried out in Washington D.C. The key argument posed by Liebow is that black males are incapable of attaining jobs because they lack education. He also argues that this is a cycle that inevitably results in a trans-generational marginalization of the black race.
The author indicates that money was scarce for him growing up, and that he was never in a financially stable position. Therefore, he perceived selling illegal drugs as a vast opportunity out of his current environment. “A young buck sellin drugs and such, who never had much, trying to get a clutch of what I could not touch.” Cream by Wu-tang Clan describes the unfortunate conditions many young teenagers, the author included at the time, growing up in poverty encounter while seeking resources for survival, often resulting in adolescences being
Freakonomics chapters three through five intrigued me the most due to the chapter titles. In chapter three, the authors discuss the title question of the chapter “Why do Drug Dealers Still Live with Their Moms”. In chapter five, the authors discuss the title “What Makes a Perfect Parent”. In chapter three, the title refers to “How is the Ku Klux Klan like a group of real estate agents?”.
In the book “Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City” written by Dr. Elijah Anderson, the William K. Lanman, Jr. Professor of Sociology at Yale University, brings to light the different issues that are regular in the city today. The street codes have a huge influence on the activities and conduct of numerous young people in the inner city or “hood”. In the hood, Anderson demonstrates that there are numerous social disasters like high rates of unemployment, and teen pregnancy. The principle power contributing to these street codes, according to Anderson, is racism; though that kind of behavior is accelerated by the existing economic and political commands in the city (Anderson 34). The “Code of the Street”
Rios records several instances where the boys in the study encounter negative interactions with individuals involved in the criminal justice system like the officers that patrol the streets, the parole officers that criticize and label the boys as deviants, and the juvenile system that threaten and harass the boys. Such
There are many different phenomenons that could be explained by sociological theories. Sociology studies these occurrences to explain why people do the things they do. Crimes rates can be defined by symbolic interactionism, functionalist theory and conflict theory. People are born into the wrong neighborhood and grow up stealing.
In addition, the only way to get out of this poverty was typically illegal like selling drugs. This is interesting because it unearths volumes of information regarding the economic landscape in the inner city. The chorus of the song is “Drug dealin’ just to get by, Stack your money ’til it gets sky high (Kids, sing! Kids, sing!)” further emphasizing the fact that drug dealing was the only way to surviving in an economic landscape of the inner city.
The principle focus of chapter three,“Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live With Their Moms?”is the emphasis on conventional wisdom, or more specifically, that conventional wisdom is often false. Simply defined, conventional wisdom is “convenient, comfortable, and comforting—though not necessarily true.” The authors explain that we usually associate truth with convenience, or that we are readily able to accept that which we can understand. However, the authors reason that simply because we understand something does not mean it is true. The authors debunk the conventional wisdom through various examples, such as those of crack dealing millionaires, homelessness, and women’s rights activists.