Code of the street : decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city

Author / Creator

Anderson, Elijah, author

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Summary

Inner-city black America is often stereotyped as a place of random violence; in fact, violence in the inner city is regulated through an informal but well-known code of the street. An individual's ...

Inner-city black America is often stereotyped as a place of random violence; in fact, violence in the inner city is regulated through an informal but well-known code of the street. An individual's safety and sense of worth are determined by the respect he commands in public. How you dress, talk, and behave can have life-or-death consequences, with young people particularly at risk. This incisive book examines the code as a response to the lack of jobs that pay a living wage, to the stigma of race, to rampant drug use, to alienation and lack of hope. The most powerful force counteracting this code and its reign of terror is the strong, loving, decent family, and we meet many heroic figures in the course of this narrative. Unfortunately, the culture of the street thrives and often defeats decency because it controls public spaces, so that individuals with higher, better aspirations are often entangled in the code and its self-destructive behaviors.--From publisher description.

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