Code of the Street

Inner-city black America is often stereotyped by random, senseless street violence. In fact, although violence is a salient feature of the most impoverished inner-city communities, its use is far from random; rather, it is regulated through an informal but well-known code of the street. How you dress, how you talk, how you behave, whether you make eye contact, your understanding of the pecking order - such crucial details can have life-or-death consequences, and young people are particularly at risk. This examination of inner-city life shows that the code is a complex cultural 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. Elijah Anderson demonstrates that the most powerful force counteracting the culture of the street is a strong, loving, decent family, and we meet many heroic figures in the course of this narrative.

First sentence: ALMOST everyone residing in poor inner-city neighborhoods is struggling financially and therefore feels a certain distance from the rest of America, but there are degrees of alienation, captured by the terms "decent" and "street" or "ghetto" suggesting social types.

Year

1999

Language

English

Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

Editions

4

Pages

352

ISBN

9780393320787

Data source: Wikidata