The Code of the Streets

I grew up during what is referred to as the "Golden Era" of Hip-Hop. Throughout my life I have often heard that rap music causes violence. I thought it was ridiculous then and I think it's ridiculous now. While Kurdin's research shows that gangster rap music lays a framework for expectations for how to conduct yourself in the street, it does not cause people to perpetrate violent acts. When Kurbin writes, "This research, however, does not suggest that rap directly causes violence; rather, it examines the more subtle discursive processes through which rap helps to organize and construct violent social identity and account for violent behavior" (361), he makes it clear that gangster rap lyrics do not cause violence. He reiterates that point in his conclusion when he writes, "rap music does not cause violence but extends the purview of the street code of violence and respect" (376-377). While the study clearly showed how violence is a pervasive part of the genre, I appreciated the fact that Kubrin took a moment to recognize that, "rappers tell important stories through their music" (375). Rather then demonize gangster rap entirely, Kubrin recognizes that this culture that emerged in the late seventies from the South Bronx, was an important form of art and self-expression for black and Latino youth which reflected their everyday experiences. 

One idea from my life that I can connect to the ideas about street life and rap music Kubrin describes in the reading is that rap music did teach me the code of the streets. Whether I subscribed to that code or not was entirely up to me, as it is up to any listener, but having the benefit of knowing the codes gave me an advantage as to how to conduct myself. While violence was a very real part of my upbringing, and educational experience for that matter, I don't attribute it to just the music we listened to. Media on a whole played a big part in influencing my choices and decisions as an adolescent. 

One new idea that came across in the reading is the idea that rap music isn't as misogynistic as it is so often portrayed to be in the media. To say that it doesn't objectify women on some level would be inaccurate. But what the research finds is that respect and violence are the overarching themes of the genre. The fact that the objectification of women wasn't so prevalent in the lyrics indeed did surprise me. 

Gender, Cheerleaders, and Hypermasculinity

What I learned from the Adler reading is that when put in positions that are typically deemed "feminized terrain," men exude hypermasculinity as a way of justifying their involvement. At least that was the case for the men in the "Orthodox Cheerleading Association." This is evident when the author quotes a pep talk given by a veteran cheerleader, named Randy, instructing the younger men on their first day. He charges the young men to be respectful of the women and to not rub the fact that men can do things better in the female cheerleaders face. The author writes, "Randy's talk illustrates the institutional and cultural attitudes of masculinity, homophobia, and sexism among men categorized as belonging to the orthodox group." (Anderson, 286). In light of the findings in the study, I learned that men seem to have a need to justify why they would be involved in something that society wouldn't typically consider manly. 

One idea from my life that I can connect to these ideas about gender in social life is how being, what could be called by some, a sensitive man is viewed. I recently had an exchange with my boss in which be called be sensitive and feminine because I brought up a situation where I believed that our organization wasn't being very thoughtful in a particular area. I was kind of shocked by his assessment of me, but the further I though about it I wasn't surprised. My boss is what would be consider by some a man's man. He rides a Harley, used to own a construction company, has three sons, and exudes a fair share of bravado and machismo. For him to call me sensitive and feminine is to say that I don't fall into his idea of how a man should think and behave. Honestly, I'm okay with that. 

In reading the material for this week though I found that this paradigm is really wide spread. I never really gave much thought to cheerleading or men cheerleaders for that matter. One new idea that came across in the reading is this need to be hyper-manly on the part of the orthodox male cheerleaders. I wasn't aware that a dichotomy existed between the orthodox and inclusive cheerleading associations. I was very surprised that former football players were on the cheerleading squads considering the locker room, only the strong survive, culture of football. Then, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense that this hypermasculinity existed because some of these male cheerleaders were former "jocks." I found the article to be very interesting and thought provoking. It definitely exposed me to things that I had not previously known or given much thought to. 

Reflections on: The Promise of Sociology by C. Wright Mills

The Mills article was incredibly interesting and thought provoking. Mills gives pause for thought when he writes, "Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both." (11). 

And while we live in an increasingly me centered and individualistic society the article gives way to a new school of thought for some. It makes the point that life, and any attempt to understand it, is bigger than me, or any one person. Life then, when viewed through the lens of the sociological imagination, can be viewed as a tapestry made up of ones individual (personal) and corporate (public) experiences carefully intertwining and having a significant effect on one other. Mills makes a similar assertion when he writes, "No social study that does not come back to the problems of biography, or history, and of their intersection within a society has completed its intellectual journey." (13). 

When thinking about the difference between troubles and issues and how they connect to ideas from my life, the first example that comes to mind is the prison industrial complex. I live in a neighborhood with a high concentration of public housing developments which translates to a very high police presence. To that end, many residents from my neighborhood are routinely profiled and questioned by police using methods such as "Stop and Frisk" for probable cause. While I am a firm believer in justice, I feel that what is a trouble for those being profiled and arrested, it speaks to a much bigger issue. Our justice system is set up in such a way that only those who can afford powerful and high priced attorneys to have a fighting chance. There are systems and social structures in place that keep prisons and jails full with individuals that are from a similar socioeconomic background as myself, a minority born into poverty. The issue is that, in many respects, rich and wealthy individuals get away with things that someone from a poor neighborhood would not. In the past these judicial inconsistencies we easier to cover up or sweep under the rug but in an age of social media and digital media, the injustice is just that much more evident and appalling. That is one example of what comes to mind when thinking about troubles and issues and how they connect to ideas from my life.  

Class in America

I thought the article "Class in America" was extremely well written, informative, and quite interesting. 

However, I was surprised that it did not touch on technology more. In the past decade there have been more college age individuals creating start up companies from a bedroom in their parents house or dorm-rooms that generate millions, and in some cases billions (facebook), of dollars. While I would venture to say that most of these individuals didn't make the jump from poverty to the upper eshalon, their achievements are still incredibly impressive. Companies such as facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others have skyrocketed their creators to a higher tax bracket quite quickly. 

I would disagree with the statements, "More Americans than 20 years ago believe it is possible to start out poor, work hard and become rich. They say hard work and a good education are more important to getting ahead than connections or a wealthy background." 

From the beginning those born into wealth have an extreme advantage with respect to education and health care. The educational inequality in this nation is staggering. The experience children have from preschool in private schools from the earliest stages of development give them an advantage to children that go to free head-start programs and/or public schools. Dr. Jonathan Kozal and others have written extensively on this topic. Children do not start of on a level playing field and indeed "an accident of birth can..." and usually does, "...influence the outcome of a life." 

Another reason that I disagree with those statements is because of recent events in the US. This article was written prior to movements such as Occupy Wall Street. In the current economic climate young, well educated individuals, usually with thousands of dollars of student loan debt, could not find work after college. The Occupy Wall street movement then sparked a national movement of discontent Americans, some young and well educated, willing to get arrested to express their beliefs on the matter. We tell our children that if they get a good education and work hard they will get be successful in life. In my neighborhood, that is a bold face lie. Most public high school graduates in New York City need remediation when they make it to college. The graduation grate for BMCC alone tells the story of thousands of students that weren't ready for college. The quote and statistics from http://2020schools.org/our-mission/ below make my point better than my words can:

We offer them an escape, promising that if they stay in school, they will be able to overcome poverty and achieve in life. But that promise rings hollow for too many New York City children.The City of New York educates 1.1 million students in 1,600 public schools every year – a population that, by itself, would be the tenth largest city in America. Even after a decade of reform, a population larger than Boston, Seattle, and Washington D.C. lacks proficiency in math or reading in those schools every day.

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64% of fourth-graders and 67% of eighth-graders are NOT proficient in reading according to federal standards.

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60% of fourth-graders and 66% of eighth-graders are NOT proficient in math.

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Performance results vary widely by neighborhood, with economic variables being a primary indicator of achievement.

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The racial achievement gap is alarming: while 45% of white students and 52% of Asians are proficient, only 18% of black students and 22% of Hispanic students are.

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Rates of proficiency have been essentially flat since 2002 despite a decade of reform.

(Source: 2010 National Assessment for Educational Progress, U.S. Department of Education)
Nationally, the need for sustainable education reform is similarly urgent.

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Children living in low-income communities are two to three grades behind their higher-income peers by the time they reach fourth grade.

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Only half of students in low-income communities will graduate high school by age eighteen.

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On average, those who do graduate will perform at an eighth-grade level.

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Only 1 in 10 students growing up in poverty will graduate from college.

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According to a study by McKinsey & Company, educational inequity costs the country $500 billion each year – the equivalent of a permanent national recession.

(Source: Teach for America) 

These statistics speak for themselves. To say that we all have the same access to the "American Dream," if there is such a thing, in my opinion, is an inaccurate statement. Please don't misunderstand me. I value hard work and education. I would not be typing this if I didn't. But, I do not define success by what tax bracket I fall into, my social class standing, or where I land on the nifty New York Times mobility graph.