Labeling And Social Contest Among Individuals And Families

The labels â€Å"decent† and â€Å"street† is the result of labeling and social contest among individuals and families in the neighborhood. The decent families are the ones who accept more mainstream values and morals and make sure their children grow up with these same views. Often placed into the â€Å"working poor† category, they honor hard work and are wiling to make sacrifices for their children. They are polite and primarily focused on their studies while in school, but are also taught to stand up for themselves. If someone shoves them into a corner or begins to fight them, they are told to hit back and show respect for themselves. In decent families, there is hope for their future. The parents tend to be strict with their children and expect a†¦show more content†¦Disorganization theory is portrayed by the lives of street oriented families. The stress of bills, providing food to put on the table, and the amount of care for children lead the mother s to become addicted to crack, an alcoholic, and get involved in unhealthy relationships. This is not uncommon in this type of family. Joe dickens is an example of type of lifestyle street families live. His wife sank to the streets and most likely became a prostitute to support her drug habit. He had no choice but to let her go because she was not caring for her children. He tries his best to make sure the children are fed, clothed and bathed. To most he may seem like a responsible parent, but the people who live on the block see what happens on the inside of the home. They witness him yelling at the children, leaves them unsupervised at various hours of the day and night. He is also assumed of being a drug dealer from the amount of people that come and go from his home at strange hours. â€Å"These children are learning by example the values of toughness and self absorption: to be loud, boisterous, proudly crude, and uncouth- in short, street.† (Anderson, 47) The model to t hese children is a huge factor in differential reinforcement theory which states that much of the child’s social learning takes place while imitating and modeling the behavior of these role models. The children will soon gravitate towards the streets and fall into