Crips and Bloods PDF

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Crips and Bloods...

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Daniel Kohen, Vineet Kallanagowdar, James Bobek

Consider the discussion of norm violations and deviant behavior in Chapter One (textbook) - What types of social norms did many of the gang members break? Were there sanctions for breaking these norms? 2. Now, using your sociological imagination - Discuss how and/or why for many of the gang members the "breaking" of social norms of larger society involved norms that are not part of their social world (in other words, were the gang members actually breaking the norms of their own social world or just the norms of larger society - is there a difference?). Explain. 1.

1. In society, there are a number of social norms that are expected of every person to adhere to. But, of course, in reality not everyone will be able to adhere to these social norms, deviating from everyone else through their actions, words, and attitudes. The documentary “Crips and Bloods: Made in America” illustrates two rival gangs in Los Angeles: their history, their attitudes, and their rationales for joining the gangs. After watching the film, one can learn that these gang members joined because they needed a sense of community and belonging which they didn’t have within their families – many of them came from broken households and poverty. Since many of them also had no work or other economic opportunities (especially those who had a criminal record and were just released from prison), they often times resorted to theft, selling drugs, and violence. Additionally, many of them did not have any role models, male or female, within their families so this was all they ever knew. In their lives, they had no consequences for their actions, no one at home was punishing them or pointing them in the right direction. Police officers often times harassed the community, instigating violence and more wrongdoing. It became a never-ending cycle between police harassment of the community, and community animosity towards the police. 2. In their community, this was the standard, while in the larger community around them, behaving like this was not the social norm. It’s normal in society for people to match the general attitudes and norms of their area, and unfortunately, in this area of LA, those norms were of violence and gang activity. Additionally, this was all they ever saw growing up, so for them this was normal. Many of them did not venture beyond a few blocks out of their neighborhood where they grew up, and most had never even seen the Pacific Ocean. However, many did recognize that the gang activity was not ultimately good; many of them admitted if they were treated well by society and given the educational and economic opportunities afforded to others, they would not have joined these gangs. So while it was the norm of their community to join gangs, extort, and commit violence, the members only did it out of necessity. They did recognize that gang activity isn’t worthwhile compared to having a good job and living a “good” life, as thought of by the larger community....