SOC. 104-Unit #3-SG
When crimes are committed by youths listed in the Oakland Police "gang database," it is possible that their punishment will be even more severe because...
A: Their crime can be classified as "for the benefit of a gang", which lengthens the sentence.
Which is NOT true of moral panics?
A: They are often racialized and centered on poor African-American communities.
Which of the following is NOT true about the Black Panthers?
A: They were a terrorist organization.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
-Ex. Jose:The stigma produced by this ritual helped to generate a self-fulfilling prophecy that shaped his ensuing relationships with teachers, police, and probation officers.(p. 63, lecture)
Gender violence(128-129)
-punitive police treatment of men of color is not only racial violence; it is also gender violenceHarris continues, "Violent acts committed by men, whether these acts break the law or are designed to uphold it, are often a way of demonstrating the perpetrator's manhood. I call this kind of violence 'gender violence' and assert that men as well as women may be its victims."21 Young people in Oakland encountered this "gender violence" regularly from police on the street, at school, at community centers, and in front of their apartment complexes. The boys often became victims of police officers who were attempting to uphold the law. Officers wanted to teach the young men lessons, by effeminizing them: they manhandled them, constantly called them "little bitches," humiliated them in front of female peers, challenged them to fights, and otherwise brutalized them.
Which is the central reason why boys in Rios' study act in defiance?
A: To maintain dignity
The young men in this study experienced criminalization by many people around them EXCEPT:
A: Victor Rios
What is the "youth control complex"?
A: A system in which institutions treat young people's everyday behaviors as criminal.
Looking-Glass Self (Cooley)
Charles Cooley; we evaluate self image through 1. How do I appear to others? 2. What must others think of me? 3. Revise how we think about ourselves.
"The Imaginations of people have of one another are the solid facts of society"
Cooley
Criminalization & HyperCriminalization
Crim: the process by which styles and behaviors are rendered deviant and are treated with shame, exclusion, punishment, and incarceration (p. 14) Hyper: the process by which an individual's everyday behaviors and styles become ubiquitously treated as deviant, risky, threatening, or criminal, across social contexts. This hypercriminalization, in turn, has a profound impact on young people's perceptions, worldviews, and life outcomes(p. 15)
Masculinity challenges (p. 128-129)
Criminologist and masculinity scholar James Messerschmidt argues that men are constantly faced with "masculinity challenges" and that this process is what leads to crime: Such masculinity challenges are contextual interactions that result in masculine degradation. Masculinity challenges arise from interactional threats and insults from peers, teachers, parents, and from situationally defined masculine expectations that are not achievable. Both, in various ways, proclaim a man or boy subordinate in contextually defined masculine terms. ... Masculinity challenges may motivate social action towards masculine resources (e.g., bullying, fighting) that correct the subordinating social situation, and various forms of crime can be the result.
3 Dimensions of the Looking Glass Self:
First we imagine our appearance or image in the eyes of the other. Second we imagine some judgement of that appearance. Finally we experience some sort of self feeling-such as pride or mortification. (Collins & Makowsky)
Code switching (p. 171)
Here I am referring to Elijah Anderson's (1999) notion of "code-switching," when individuals who live in a violent environment learn to shift their behaviors within the different institutions they navigate.
Double bind-
I argue that the non-delinquent boys who lived in marginalized neighborhoods inhabited a double bind: they had to overcompensate to show authority figures that they were not criminal by rejecting their peers and family members who had been labeled as such-Ex: A double bind became apparent in Jose's endeavor to protect himself: while the gang protected Jose from specific kinds of victimization, such as being attacked by non-gang members, he experienced more victimization by rival gang members after joining the gang (p. 33, 60)-
Research Methods
In order to create a study that would uncover the process of criminalization that young people experienced, I combined the methods of critical criminology with urban ethnography to develop an understanding of the punitive state through the lens of marginalized populations. Both methods offered me tools essential to understanding and documenting the lives of the young men I studied. Critical criminology, the study of crime in relation to power, which explicitly examines crime as a socially constructed phenomenon, allowed me to bring to light the mechanisms responsible for the plight of marginalized male youths in the new millennium. Urban ethnography, the systematic and meticulous method of examining culture unfolding in everyday life, allowed me to decipher the difficult and complex circumstances, social relations, and fabric of social life under which these young men lived. (p. 23)
Punishment
In this study, it is understood as the process by which individuals come to feel stigmatized, outcast, shamed, defeated, or hopeless as a result of negative interactions and sanctions imposed by individuals who represent institutions of social control. (p.14)
Half-truth
Sociologist Alice Goffman argues that young, Black, male felons "maintain self respect in the face of failure" by telling "half-truths," by using their wanted status as an excuse not to provide for their families or show responsibility: "Being wanted serves as an excuse for a variety of unfulfilled obligations and expectations."(p. 75)
Symbolic Interactionism (Blumer)(Cooley, Goffman):
Sociology is the interpretation of social meaning. Meaning is created through moments of social interaction. Uses ethnography.
Wilding (p.78)
The invention of terms such as wilding, as Houston Baker points out, reveal a discourse of black male youth out of control, rampaging teenagers free of the disciplinary structures of school, work, and prison."
Punitive social control
The youth control complex creates an overarching system of regulating the lives of marginalized young people, what I refer to as punitive social control. Hypercriminalization involves constant punishment (p. 14)
Definition of Disruption (Goffman)
What happens when someone acts incorrectly in response to a social situation
Dramaturgy (Erving Goffman)
an approach in which social life is analyzed in terms of its similarities to theatrical performance
Racial microaggressions
are those subtle acts of racism that people of color experience on a daily basis, such as being followed by security at a store, being stopped by police for matching the description of a criminal gang member, or being ignored at school by counselors because they are not expected to make it to college (p. 40)
Symbolic Punishment
as it relates to race, can be understood as "racial microaggressions." (p. 48)
The formation of self (Cooley):
comes from our moments of social interaction.
Material criminalization
includes police harassment, exclusion from businesses and public recreation spaces, and the enforcement of zero-tolerance policies that lead to detention rooms, school suspensions, and incarceration (p. 48)
Symbolic Criminalization
includes the surveillance, profiling, stigma, and degrading interactions that young people regularly endure (p. 48)
Social incapacitation (p. 149)
is the process by which punitive social control becomes an instrument which prevents marginalized populations from functioning, thriving, and feeling a sense of dignity and humanity in their daily interactions with institutional forces. Culture scholar George Lipsitz reminds us of Malcolm X's brilliant analysis of racism: "Racism is like a Cadillac, they bring out a new model every year."4
Social death (p. 149)
is the systematic process by which individuals are denied their humanity. Despite being biologically alive, they are socially isolated, violated, and prevented from engaging in social relations that affirm their humanity. Ethnic studies scholar Dylan Rodriguez argues that incarceration is a form of social death. This social death, he argues, is "the political and organizational logic of the prison."3 But beyond finding that incarceration produced a certain kind of social death, I also found that social death began at a very young age in the form of punishment and criminalization. Growing up, the boys were injected with consistent microdoses of social death. This microaggressive form of social death I refer to as social incapacitation.
Security maximizing value system (p. 152)
sociologist Martín Sánchez-Jankowski calls a "security-maximizing value system."Sánchez-Jankowski argues that some individuals living in poor neighborhoods choose to "deprive themselves today to avoid future suffering."-- --In other words, J.T. understood that the delinquent boys, as a group, were setting themselves up for failure. Their defiance of criminalization allowed the system to impose the harshest sanctions on them. Although J.T. might suffer stigma at the moment, he believed that he might have a better future if he proved his lawfulness over time.
Positivism:
sociology is the science of society-Critiqued by Blumer & compared too social interactionism. Positivists: all social phenomenon can be reduced down to numerical form (math & science).-Ex: I.Q.
Cultural straddlers (p. 135)
young people who had developed the skills to straddle two worlds, meeting the "expectations of the school's cultural codes" and "co-creating meaning with their peers." These cultural straddlers, Carter argues, "hold on to their native cultural style but also embrace dominant cultural codes and resources."1 Similar to Carter's cultural straddlers, all of the non-delinquent boys in this study knew how to navigate multiple worlds.
Positive rite
—the universal human need to be perceived by others in a positive light, with consideration instead of degradation. (p. 63)
According to Rios, what is the consequence of the labeling hype on young men's self perception?
A: All their interactions with the world around them had led the young men to internalize that their criminality was part of their persona and that they had nothing to lose if they engaged in criminal activity.
According to lecture, which sociologist stated that "the imaginations people have of one another are the solid facts of society?"
A: Charles Horton Cooley
According to Rios, how do schools commonly treat boys who are victims of violence?
A: Expel them on the basis of missing too many classes.
Definition of Situation (Goffman)
Working consensus among participants, in moment of social interaction, about who they are and where they are going.
Deviance is in the Eye of the Labeler (Becker-1964 pg.8-9)
"Deviance isn't a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application of others of rules and sanctions to an 'offender'. The deviant is one whom the labels been successfully applied, deviant behavior is behavior that people so label"
What are Rios' (3) main research questions in Punished?(p.7)
"How do surveillance, punishment, and criminal justice practices affect the lives of marginalized boys? -What effects do patterns of punishment have on the lives of young men in this study? -Specifically, how do punitive encounters with police, probation officers, teachers, an administrators, and other authority figures shape the meanings that young people create about themselves and about their obstacles, opportunities, and future aspirations?"
What type of research methods does Rios use?(23)
"In order to create a study that would uncover the process of criminalization that young people experienced, I combined the methods of critical criminology with urban ethnography to develop an understanding of the punitive state through the lens of marginalized populations. Both methods offered me tools essential to understanding and documenting the lives of the young men I studied. Critical criminology, the study of crime in relation to power, which explicitly examines crime as a socially constructed phenomenon, allowed me to bring to light the mechanisms responsible for the plight of marginalized male youths in the new millennium. Urban ethnography, the systematic and meticulous method of examining culture unfolding in everyday life, allowed me to decipher the difficult and complex circumstances, social relations, and fabric of social life under which these young men lived. "*Mandatory min*trying Juveniles as adults*use of capital punishment*Street and terrorism enforcement & prevention act--longer sentences for offenders recognized as gang members*Prop 21
What is panoptocism and how does Rios use this concept to explain surveillance in the boys' lives? (Foucault and Rios)(870
"Philosopher Michel Foucault argues that the practices and architecture of constant surveillance, what he calls "panopticism," makes individuals internalize their punishment and become self-disciplined, docile bodies.But in Oakland, young men were not being taught this self-discipline. Instead, the criminalization which existed in this context led the boys to manipulate the system, by agreeing to obey under coercion and, at the same time, resisting this coercion by breaking the rules which they had agreed to follow". Oakland Boys: placed in center of panopticon, punitive treatment surrounded them, beaming itself in high intensity, from multiple directions, punishment was aimed at controlling and containing the young men who were seen as risks, threats, and culprits, not seen as souls that needed to be disciplined but as irreparable risks and threats that needed to be controlled and ultimately contained. This treatmentincapacitated them as social subjects; it stripped them of their dignity and humanity by systematically marking them and denying them the ability to function in school, in the labor market, and as law-abiding citizens. The boys did not learn to self-discipline; instead, they resisted, became incapacitated, or both. The boys knew they were being watched, and so they resisted; they created a spectacle of the system, exposing its flaws and contradictions, which in turn led to an altered sense of having recovered some dignity. In a securitized Oakland, Foucault's panopticon had been flipped on its head: it had become inverted, placing the boys at the center of the complex, with forces of punitive social control surrounding them, delivering them constant ubiquitous punishment and criminalization, leading many to resist.
Youth support complex (pp. 150, 152)
"a ubiquitous system of support that nurtures and reintegrates young people placed at risk. This system must find creative ways to teach young people when they have made mistakes. Healthy adolescent development requires that young people make mistakes and that they learn from their mistakes. Middle- and upper-class children are given ample opportunity to learn from their mistakes." or "complex that facilitates marginalized young people's social mobility will have to embrace and legitimize the hard work that young people engage in as they survive the streets, work for their freedom, and strive for their dignity."
Code of the streets
"the code of the street."-offers individuals a way to protect themselves from victimization in violent communities and to build respect from others: "In service to this ethic, repeated displays of 'nerve' and 'heart' build or reinforce a credible reputation for vengeance that works to deter aggression and disrespect, which are sources of great anxiety on the inner-city street." 14 Anderson-code is embedded in everyday interaction across various institutions in the community: "The 'code of the street' is not the goal or product of any individual's actions but is the fabric of everyday life, a vivid and pressing milieu within which all local residents must shape their personal routines, income strategies, and orientations to schooling, as well as their mating, parenting, and neighbor relations." (p. 60)
How does the code of the street contribute to a pervasive system of social control in the criminal justice system, schools, and the community?
-Boys wouldn't tell the police anything, or "snitch" even when they were the victims because they learned that the police saw them all as criminals anyways and wouldn't protect them -Schools often would expel the boys for missing too much school or acting out because they had criminalied them, when really what they needed was structure -Led them to be respected and feared by others in the community. "Teacher Bias" was enacted by teachers to those students that they are inferior and don't care. -In schools' attempts to maintain order, they use the full force of criminal justice institutions to regulate students' behavior -When students 'misbehave', teachers and other personnel threaten to send them to jail, call the police or call their probation officer. School represented another space where youth was criminalized
What are the different ways that the boys enact agency in their response to the youth control complex? What is the Hyphy Movement and how does Rios argue it illustrates agency?
-Define: Agents of social control further stigmatize the boys in response to their original label as 'deviant' or 'criminal' Discuss: Creates a vicious cycle that multiplies their experiences with criminalization -EX: Boys felt hopeless, which led to a 'deviant self-concept' where their experiences with criminalization became internalized and at risk for more serious labels
How is the overpolicing-underpolicing paradox connected to the code of the streets?
-Define: Officers constantly police certain kinds of certain kinds of deviance and crime, but neglect or ignore other instances when their help is needed Underpolicing: The law was rarely there when they needed protection from victimization, since all boys in the area were criminalized, the police could not tell the difference between those committing crimes and innocent ones who were not. Code of the street: youth would engage in victimization as a way to protect themselves from being victimized and to build respect from others, realizing that the police wouldn't be there to help them so the 'Code of the street' was used as a form of street justice when the formal justice system failed them. Started the Don't snitch campaign -Boys didn't provide information to police even when they were the victims
What are the political, economic, and demographic shifts that have occurred in Oakland in the second half of the 20th century?
-Large Black and Latinx communities, -Deindustrialization and job loss, -History of racialized social control-police harassment, exclusion from businesses and public recreation spaces, and the enforcement of zero tolerance policies that led to detention rooms, school suspensions, and incarceration
Who were the participants in Rios study? Why did he choose to focus on young men's experiences within the criminal justice system and the youth control complex?
-The Study: An urban ethnography, Three years in Oakland, CA (2002-2005) -Who was in the study: Studied 40 black and Latino boys in-depth, 118 in total- focus on masculinity; Ages 14-17; Working class, working poor, or in extreme poverty -Purpose of the study: Study of crime in relation to power The state has become embedded in everyday lives of black and latino boys through punitive social control:These boys also face hypercriminalization that affected their agency,Criminalization became a way in which the boys developed resistant identities.
Briefly sketch the history of racialized social control in Oakland.
-police harassment, exclusion from businesses and public recreation spaces, and the enforcement of zero tolerance policies that led to detention rooms, school suspensions, and incarceration.
Biopower(Foucault)=
a technology of power for managing humans in large groups; the distinctive quality of this political technology is that it allows for the control of entire populations.
What answer below BEST describes some of the factors that pushed Tyrell to pursue criminal activity?
A: His physical appearance, his socioeconomic status, early labeling by social institutions, his father's inability to find a formal job, his mother's lifestyle and abandonment, norms determining who was able to receive welfare, and an early school incident with a teacher.
How does Rios describe the use of hypercriminalization?
A: Hypercriminalization is the main form of social control used in marginalized communities.
What does Rios mean when he describes Tyrell as "too tall"?
A: It made him seem like a threat, so he was targeted by authorities more frequently starting at a young age.
Which of the following is NOT true of the "don't snitch campaign"?
A: It was a survival tactic to avoid the stigma associated with helping the police.
Why did Mike steal a $0.25 bag of chips from Sam's Liquor Store?
A: Mike wanted respect from the store clerk after being criminalized by him.
Which political party enacts neoliberal policies?
A: Neoliberalism cuts across party lines.
Which of the following applies to Foucault's reconceptualization of power?
A: Power is decentralized and operates through various social institutions in our everyday lives.
What motivated Ronny to not shake the white manager's hand after the job interview process?
A: Ronny had been taught from an early age that white women would find any form of touch by black men as threatening and resisted the handshake from this perspective.
Which boy was stabbed and assumed to be an active gang member, although he was not involved in any gang activity?
A: Spider
How did the boys' resistance against hypercriminalization affect their circumstances?
A: The boys were able to gain back a temporary sense of dignity and agency, oftentimes also gaining the respect of authority figures, who would then not harrass them for a brief time.
According to Rios, which of the following is NOT true of how masculinity is used:
A: The boys would either adopt a toxic masculinity or a feminist masculinity.
According to Rios, what event led him to develop a sociological imagination?
A: The death of his best friend in a gang fight.
According to Rios, what is misrecognition?
A: When one's idea of professional behavior, including good manners and good morals, does not match with mainstream ideas of professional behavior.
Which of the following theories emphasizes that people become criminals because they learn criminal techniques and they learn to take pleasure in the crimes they are committing?
A: differential association theory
The criminalization and punitive social control that the boys in Punished experienced resulted in the development of a "specific set of gendered practices" that Rios refers to as...
A: hypermasculinity
According to Rios, what did the boys develop as an alternative to social and cultural capital?
A: organic capital
According to lecture, what intellectual trend did Herbert Blumer critique?
A: positivism
The process by which individuals come to feel stigmatized, outcast, shamed, defeated, or hopeless as Rios defines it is:
A: punishment
Which of the following theories of crime and deviance operates with the assumption that criminals are rational beings?
A: rational choice theory
Ethnographic fieldwork for Punished was conducted in an impoverished area of Oakland known to some locals as...
A: the flatlands
"The Milk incident" that happened to Jose best shows:
A: underpolicing
Snowball sampling
After meeting with these young men, I asked them to refer me to other youths in similar situations, as well as to young men who they knew had not been arrested but who hung out with guys who had, a technique known as snowball sampling.11 With snowball sampling, I was able to uncover a population of young men who were surrounded by or involved in crime and who had consistent interaction with police. Only the eight initial boys had contact with the youth organizations I initially contacted. The other thirty-two boys were not involved in any community programs at first contact. (p. 11)
Hypermasculinity (p.123)
Angela Harris defines hyper-masculinity as an "exaggerated exhibition of physical strength and personal aggression," which is often a response to a gender threat "expressed through physical and sexual domination of others."
Infrapolitics (p. 110)
Anthropologist James Scott sees marginalized people's oppositional culture, or "everyday acts of resistance," as a massive and effective, yet scattered and unorganized, social movement.27 He defines "infrapolitics" as invisible, "tactical" subjectivities among oppressed groups, which seem to follow the status quo but in reality are evading power relations. Although this resistance may seem futile or meaningless, Scott maintains that it has historically made possible huge strides in contesting inequality.
Deviant politics (p. 118)
Because they reported that they committed their transgressions as a way of "getting back at the system," as Ronny explained, I am calling these acts deviant politics, by which I mean the political actions—the resistance—that youth labeled by society as deviant use to respond to punishment that they ubiquitously encounter-At a cultural level, these deviant politics played out through music, dance, and dress. A youth cultural formation, the "Hyphy Movement," is an example.
Organic capital
Borrowing from philosopher Antonio Gramsci's notion of "organic intellectuals"—those individuals who come from the marginalized conditions that they write about and study—I call the creative social and cultural capital that the boys developed in response to being prevented from acquiring capital to succeed in mainstream institutions organic capital
Neoliberalism
Cuts across party lines, republicans or democrats can advocate for this (Clinton & Reagan). Neoliberalism or neo-liberalism is the 20th-century resurgence of 19th-century ideas associated with economic liberalism and free-market capitalism. (Lecture/Dictionary)
Edwin Sutherland(1883-1950)
Differential association Theory
Slick Profile(18):
Fifteen-years-old, a Latino kid born and raised in Oakland, showed me the "hotspots": street intersections and sidewalks where life-altering experiences linger, shaping young people's perspectives of the area. As he walked me through the neighborhood, he pointed to the corner of International Boulevard and 22nd Avenue, where a few months before his best friend took a bullet in the lung during a drive-by shooting. Constantly questioned by police, and used to it. Best friend, smiley, died.
Becker & Chambliss
Labeling Theory & Deviance (Howard Becker), Saints & Roughnecks Study (Chambliss)
Jose Profile
Latino youth,mother often away at work (maid), lived within a public housing complex. Overpolicing/underpolicing paradox (milk incident)Jose felt stigmatized at school after getting arrested in the 3rd grade (Rios recounts Jose receiving a citation at school for talking disrespectfully to his high school teacher)Jose also felt police would not assist him or his family .Police neglect "minor issues" within housing complexes-LEADS TO MISTRUST OF LAW ENFORCEMENTJose said police were aggressive and attacked him at age 12 leading him to lose trust in law enforcement. Like Tyrell, jose was involved in drug usage, selling and Violence. He also felt that probation officers were no help--unrealistic advice--leaving him with the "code of the street"
Hostile masculinity (p. 128)
Male officers "equate men and masculinity with guns, crime-fighting, a combative personality, ... and a desire to work in high crime areas."19 This positioning reverberates in the inner city. Legal scholar Angela Harris explains, "Police officers in poor minority neighborhoods may come to see themselves as law enforcers in a community of savages, as outposts of the law in a jungle."
Misrecognition (p. 94)
Many of the boys believed that they had a clear sense of what courteous, professional, and "good" behavior was. Despite their attempts to present themselves with good manners and good morals, their idea of professional behavior did not match mainstream ideas of professional behavior. This in turn created what I refer to as Misrecognition.-When the boys displayed a genuine interest in "going legit," getting a job or doing well in school, adults often could not recognize their positive attempts and sometimes interpreted them as rude or malicious acts and therefore criminalized them
Acting lawful
Many of their social relations were structured by their attempts to prove their innocence, what I refer to as "acting lawful." the process by which individuals who experience punitive social control attempt to avoid becoming victims of criminalization and punishment. The boys acted lawful by following school rules, complying with police officers, and avoiding situations in which they might be suspected of breaking a rule or violating the law. "Knowing how to talk to police," as J.T. explained, means "saying shit like, 'Yes, sir,' 'No, sir,' 'Please, sir,' and making sure you don't act like you got contraband on you. ... It means making sure you riding legit, like letting them do their stupid shit and just keeping your mouth shut."--- In order to avoid further harassment, brutality, or incarceration, J.T. learned not to question police officers when they searched or questioned him, even if he felt that they were violating his rights. (p.147)
Material criminalization Vs. symbolic criminalization Vs. symbolic punishment
Material criminalization: includes police harassment, exclusion from businesses and public recreation spaces, and the enforcement of zero-tolerance policies that lead to detention rooms, school suspensions, and incarceration (p. 48) Symbolic criminalization: includes the surveillance, profiling, stigma, and degrading interactions that young people regularly endure (p. 48) Symbolic punishment: as it relates to race, can be understood as "racial microaggressions." (p. 48)
Herbert Blumer (1900-1987)
Microsociology Theorist (1/3), Symbolic Interactionism, critiqued positivism
Charles Horton Cooley
Microsociology Theorist (2/3), The looking glass self,
Erving Goffman (1922-1982)
Microsociology Theorist (3/3), Dramaturgy (formation of self, front/backstage, impression management, definition of situation,definition disruption, roles & teams,
Normal shame (p. 88)
Normal shame is the process by which a community member is held accountable for his or her transgressions by way of shaming, so that he or she learns, makes amends, and becomes reintegrated into the group or society
Michael Foucault (1926-1984)
Panopticism, Govermentality, etc.
Governmentality, Panoptocism, and Biopower (Foucault)
Panoptocism: (p. 87) Philosopher Michel Foucault argues that the practices and architecture of constant surveillance, what he calls "panopticism," makes individuals internalize their punishment and become self-disciplined, docile bodies
Cornish & Clark
Rational Choice Theory
Symbolic Interactionism (Blumer, Cooley, Goffman)
Sociology is the interpretation of social meanings Meaning is Created in moments of social interaction
Why does Rios argue for a youth support complex? How would the youth support complex transform the boys' lives?
Some of this "hustle" to stay free consisted of young people's maintaining resilience and self-determination by analyzing their condition as a struggle against a system that ubiquitously attempted to incarcerate them and socially incapacitate them. A youth support complex that facilitates marginalized young people's social mobility will have to embrace and legitimize the hard work that young people engage in as they survive the streets, work for their freedom, and strive for their dignity.
Spider Profile
Spider was fifteen years young when he was brutally attacked by gang members on a night when he sat on his front door steps talking with friends. After this near-death experience, Spider was registered by the Oakland police as an active gang member. Prior to this event, he had never been arrested or registered by police as a gang member. When the police classified Spider as a gang member, school staff, community workers, and other adults in the community also adopted this categorization. The punishment that Spider encountered, after being viciously attacked, was not an isolated case of individual rogue gang detectives: there was a recurring pattern of criminalizing the victim in the lives of these young men. Meanwhile, police officers, school personnel, probation officers, and even community workers supported the labeling of Spider as a culprit, despite his being the victim who had been stabbed.Spider gave up on police then. Ended up being in a gang.
Frontstage (Goffman)
Where the bulk of our impression management occurs-where our "performance" of ourselves takes place ("putting on a show", putting on a smile for an annoying customer)
Backstage (Goffman)
Where we prepare for the performance itself (The breakroom where we prepare ourselves to deal with annoying customers).
What is "acting white?" What did Rios find regarding the delinquent boys in his study and the "acting white" stigma?(141)
These students are also held responsible for putting pressure on their high-achieving peers by accusing them of "acting White." Contrary to this widespread belief, all the boys in this study placed a high value on education. They all had dreams of one day having a college degree and acquiring viable, professional employment. However, many had not yet developed the specific skills needed to attain passing grades, graduate from high school, or attend college. Low-achieving students did not "hate on" their high-achieving peers for doing well in school; as a matter of fact, many of the delinquent boys gave their peers "love" for making it in school, getting good grades, and graduating. - I found that when delinquent Black and Latino boys chastised ("hated on") peers who had gone "legit," it was because of the belief that they had become part of the system of punitive social control. They had participated in stigmatizing and excluding their delinquent peers, and this, in turn, earned them "snitch" status, one of the worst labels given by the delinquent boys.
How are Rios's personal experiences and background related to his study?
They were willing to open up more since he had a similar experience. Even if he didn't get through to some of those boys theres no saying that their story is going to be as successful. He had lived in two of the focused neighborhoods
How does misrecognition contribute to the criminalization of the boys? How does Rios use misrecognition to help us better understand the boys' desire for dignity and empowerment?(103)
This feeling the young men had of being racially stigmatized and being punished for their well-intended actions made some of them reject the mainstream job-application process and develop their own underground economies. Misrecognition of genuine attempts to do well in school, the labor market, or their probation program led many of the boys to grow frustrated and to produce alternatives in which their organic capital could be put to productive use. However, the misrecognition of these actions not only denied the boys access; it interpreted their well-intended acts as deviant and even criminal activity.While authority figures expected the boys to desist and follow the rules, and while the boys expressed a deep desire "to be left alone" and remain free, one of the only resources they had to feel respected within the system was to actively engage in behaviors that defied the rules of the game. This in turn led to further misrecognition and criminalization.
Tyrell Profile
Tyrell was raised by his father, John. According to Tyrell, his mother had left them for a man who made a good living selling crack. Despite the surrounding violence, drug abuse, and poverty—as well as the consequential trauma, homelessness, and hunger—Tyrell remembers having a fun childhood. His father taught him about being respectful to others and obeying the law no matter how poor they were. "Pops wouldn't steal from nobody. He would rather starve than steal,Tyrell was homeless for part of his childhood, sleeping in cars, shelters, crack houses, and in the parking lot of the Ville. In Tyrell's account, the housing authority did not want to provide his father housing. "Because he was not a woman ... they told him that he had no reason for not having a job." Tyrell's dad was a mechanic but could not find work at the time.Tyrell's was "too tall", his perspective was that he could not control his height, physical appearance, or the perceptions that others had of him. The one thing he could control was making the choice to sell drugs to support himself. Tyrell's decision to sell drugs is representative of the patterns that I found among all the boys during their first arrest. They chose to commit a crime, consciously calculating the potential risk of arrest and incarceration.Tyrell had agency to decide whether he would commit crime or not
Ronny Profile (92):
a Black youth who moved back and forth between Oakland and Berkeley, began to realize a few weeks after being placed on probation that everyone in the community knew about his arrest and probation program. Knew police against him. understood his actions as responses to this system of punishment, which restricted his ability to survive, work, play, and learn. As such, he developed coping skills that were often seen as deviant and criminal by the system. Didn't get a job likely bc. Didn't shake the potential employers hand because she was a white female.
Outsider
a labeled rule-breaker; a deviant who accepts the label of deviant and then views themselves at odds w/ mainstream society-(inequality: how people are being treated which causes them to be labeled deviant).
Milieu
a person's social environment.
Regions (Goffman)
a physical space (setting) contributes to the definition of the situation.
Roles (Goffman)
a set of expectations that we attach to a social position
Panopticism (Foucault)(1926-1984)=
a set of social practices that encourages surveillance in modern society (Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon (center prison guard tower 1791) (Elf on the Shelf).
Courtesy stigmas (p. 83)
a stigma that develops as a result of being related to a person with a stigma.Ex: conversations that school personnel, police, and probation officers had with one another about troubled youths almost always followed the same trajectory: "These parents need to learn how to discipline these kids"; "It's their parents' fault for letting them do whatever they want"; "It's no surprise that they're this way—look at their parents." These are just a few examples of countless depictions of parents as deviants, like their children
Youth control complex
a system in which schools, police, probation officers, families, community centers, the media, businesses, and other institutions systematically treat young people's everyday behaviors as criminal activity.-fueled by the micro-power of repeated negative judgments and interactions in which the boys were defined as criminal for almost any form of transgression or disrespect of authority. -ubiquitous criminalization(p.14)
1. Which of the following best describes neoliberalism?
a. A conservative political ideology championing strong market regulation b. A "new" liberal movement championing the free market c. A cross-party ideology championing free market ideologies-Correct d. A cross-party ideology championing strong government control
6. A new political candidate is running for office. They are championing political views that place a strong focus on cutting welfare spending and promoting a free-market economy. Which of the following political outlooks aligns with some of his political goals?
a. Criminalization b. Neoliberalism-Correct c. Habitus d. Liberalism
2. Which microsociologist critiqued positivism?
a. Edwin Sutherland b. Howard Becker c. Erving Goffman d. Herbert Blumer-Correct
3. Differential association is associated with which theorist?
a. Edwin Sutherland-Correct b. Philippe Bourgois c. Michel Foucault d. William Chambliss
5. Which boy was unable to get help from the police after he lost his family's gallon of milk by being bullied by local gang members?
a. Jose-Correct b. Spider c. Tyrell d. Slick
4. How did the boys use of organic capital impact their lives?
a. Organic capital was miscrecognized by mainstream institutions, but served as a resilience strategy that allowed the boys to persist through exclusionary experiences-Correct b. The boys' use of organic capital in hip-hop culture propelled these forms of capital to mainstream society and therefore provided the boys with a sense of dignity and empowerment c. Organic capital was rejected by mainstream society and so became rejected by Black and Latino boys as they searched for their own experiences of dignity and empowerment d. Organic capital saved the boys from being criminalized and harassed by educators and police officers
moral panics:
are often constructed as a result of economic and cultural crises. Often, it is the media and politicians who become central players in determining who or what becomes the moral panic of the time. They generate support for an increase in spending on crime or a decrease in spending on welfare for the "undeserving" poor.3 I read about moral panics, those events or people—for example, black muggers, AIDS, pregnant teens, gang members—deemed a threat to mainstream society.
Agency:
condition of being in action; operation-the capacity to reinterpret & mobilize, to have control over resources, to be empowered to act.
Labeling Theory (Chambliss, Becker)
explains what happens when the labels applied to a deviant person. 1. Labels are sticky-once there, always there. 2. Labels are powerful-labels can convince others to view all labeled persons in light of that label (Ex: a convicts intensions are always bad)
Teams (Goffman)
groups of people who work together in complimentary roles to maintain the definition of the situation
Deviance (Becker)
is the creation of social groups-"When accepting deviance as a given phenomenon, you're implicitly accepting the values of the majority who makes the rules"-"Deviance tells us more about the creators social rules than the rules themselves"
Labeling hype
labeling is not just a process whereby schools, police, probation officers, and families stigmatize the boys, and, in turn, their delinquency persists or increases.1 In the era of mass incarceration, labeling is also a process by which agencies of social control further stigmatize and mark the boys in response to their original label.2 This in turn creates a vicious cycle that multiplies the boys' experiences with criminalization, what I call a labeling hype. I found that the boys in this study felt outcast, shamed, and unaccepted, sometimes leading them to a sense of hopelessness and a "deviant self-concept." (p. 75)
Agent:
one that acts or has the power or authority to act
How is masculinity characterized within mainstream institutions and the criminal justice system? Why do the young men adopt hypermasculinity in response to this? How do the youth-police interactions also contribute to hypermasculinity?(120)
police officers are trained to use traits of masculinity and to expect the boys to be violent, emotionless and tough. -Masculinity Challenges:contextual interactions that result in masculine degradation. result from interactional threats and insults or situationally defined masculine expectations that are not achievable-Ways to "prove" masculinity: - class resources: access to jobs and working hard,toughness, dominance, and violence, criminal activity: use of weapons, criminalization and masculinity. -Hypermasculinity:-overcompensation of proving yourself to be manly,often leads to finding out who is the most dominant. "Such masculinity challenges are contextual interactions that result in masculine degradation. Masculinity challenges arise from interactional threats and insults from peers, teachers, parents, and from situationally defined masculine expectations that are not achievable. Both, in various ways, proclaim a man or boy subordinate in contextually defined masculine terms. ... Masculinity challenges may motivate social action towards masculine resources (e.g., bullying, fighting) that correct the subordinating social situation, and various forms of crime can be the result.5"
Modern-nation state
power becomes decentralized in a capillary like manner to all social institutions
modern nation-state (Foucault)=
power becomes decentralized in a capillary like manner to all social institutions. social institutions (schools, hospitals, psychiatric facilities, prisons), now imbued with power, become disciplinary institutions
Feudalism (Foucault)=
power is hierarchical and centralized
Feudalism
power is hierarchical and centralized (king or monarch)
Ubiquitous
present, appearing, or found everywhere. (Oxford Dictionary)
Overpolicing-underpolicing paradox
process where "They police easy targets, such as youth who visibly display their deviance and delinquency. These kids, whom police have come to criminalize, are sometimes the same ones who need help when they are victimized. Officers may be less sympathetic to those populations that they have rendered criminal. Policing seemed to be a ubiquitous part of the lives of many of these marginalized young people; however, the law was rarely there to protect them when they encountered victimization."(p.59)
The Formation of self (Goffman)
product of a scene that comes off (the self considered a performed character).
Social Institutions
schools, hospitals, psych facilities, prisons now given power become disciplinary institutions
Governmentality (Foucault):
the "art of government" in a wide sense, i.e. with an idea of "government" that is not limited to state politics alone, that includes a wide range of control techniques, and that applies to a wide variety of objects, from one's control of the self to the "biopolitical" control of populations. In the work of Foucault, this notion is indeed linked to other concepts such as biopolitics and power-knowledge.
Reflexivity
the process by which a researcher understands how personal experience shapes his or her ideas and the way he or she attributes meaning, interprets action, and conducts dialogues with informants (p.154)
Hypercriminalization
the process by which an individual's everyday behaviors and styles become ubiquitously treated as deviant, risky, threatening, or criminal, across social contexts. This hypercriminalization, in turn, has a profound impact on young people's perceptions, worldviews, and life outcomes(p. 15)
Habitus
the process by which individuals internalize and embody the structures they encounter (p. 172, lecture)
Criminalization
the process by which styles and behaviors are rendered deviant and are treated with shame, exclusion, punishment, and incarceration (p. 14)
Pathological shame (p. 89)
the process by which the transgressor is permanently stigmatized, shamed into feeling like a permanent outsider, and perpetually humiliated for his or her negative behavior. This in turn leads the transgressor to become disintegrated from the group or society
Impression Management (Goffman)
the process whereby we attempt to shape another person's perception of us (Ex: Interview, resume).
Phenotypes (Oxford Dictionary)
the set of observable characteristics of an individual resulting from the interaction of its genotype with the environment.
Differential Association Theory (Sutherland-1883-1950)(Becker)
the social learning theory of crime. Assumption: People become criminals/commit crimes because-people learn techniques to commit a crime and/or they learn to take pleasure in committing a crime. (9 propositions) Differential Association Theory Critiques-What about personality traits to explain criminal behavior
Critical criminology
the study of crime in relation to power, which explicitly examines crime as a socially constructed phenomenon, allowed me to bring to light the mechanisms responsible for the plight of marginalized male youths in the new millennium (p. 10)
Rational Choice Theory/Choice-Structuring Property (Cornish & Clark)
these are the costs, benefits and opportunities (that come with stealing or committing a crime). "Those single or multiple features of particular criminal activities, which can make them differently available and attractive to certain individuals at certain times." (Cornish & Clark)-Assumption: Criminals are rational beings-they weigh the costs and benefits before committing a crime.
Dummy smart
though he was one of the smartest students in the class, what he called "dummy smart": -His (Darius) strategy was to devise actions for fooling the system into believing what it expected of him, to break the law. In school, for example, he acted out, even (107)