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Running head: SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION APPLIED TO GANG LEADER FOR A DAY

Social Disorganization Applied to Gang Leader for a Day Brayden Turner University of West Georgia

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SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION APPLIED TO GANG LEADER FOR A DAY

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Social Disorganization Applied to Gang Leader for a Day For the purpose of this paper, The Social Disorganization Theory will be used to best explain the “actions” (criminal acts) that are described in the book, Gang Leader for a Day. This theory explains the reasons characters in Gang Leader for a Day consistently committed crimes in and around the Robert Tayler Homes. Social disorganization focuses on small areas with high crime, specifically neighborhoods. Since the book is so focused on one ecological area, social disorganization explains the universally poor behavior within this area best. In the book Gang Leader for a Day, Sudhir Venkatesh who is studying sociology at the University of Chicago, starts the book off with an account of a crack den in the South Side of the city. He makes it clear to the audience that he is no interest in taking part in any illegal activity. Such as taking drugs or engaging in prostitution. Rather, Sudhir states that his only interest is to observe the people who sell, buy, and do the drugs inside and the immediate area surrounding the Robert Taylor Homes. One day he approached Dr. Bill Wilson, who was Sudhir’s sociologist professor at the University of Chicago. Sudhir asked Dr. Wilson what he could do in order to gain insight into the projects just down the road from the University. Dr. Wilson told Sudhir to go to the Robert Taylor Homes with a questionnaire and ask the residence, “how it feels to be black and poor.” So, accordingly Sudhir goes out and asks this question at the Robert Taylor Homes. This is where he meets a group of low-level gang members who hold him and wait till JT, the guy in charge, arrives. JT runs a group of the Black Kings, a local Chicago gang. Then, Sudhir asks his question to JT, who laughs at him in response. JT tells him if he wants to understand and know what it’s like in the projects, then you must live in the projects. The next day Sudhir comes back with a beer for JT and asks him if he can observe his day to day life. This connection Sudhir makes with JT is the center point of nearly all the information he gains from this experiment.

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While gaining more trust from JT, Sudhir observes all kinds of criminal behavior while at the Robert Tayler Homes. From prostitution to the drug trade, and other low-level criminal acts, which in the projects, are referred to as “hustles” (Venkatesh, 2009). Eventually Sudhir even gets introduced to JT’s mother, Ms. Mae. Sudhir respects her and seems to enjoy her cooking. This relationship between Sudhir and Ms. Mae is unique and is brought up periodically throughout the book. Sudhir during his initial time of being there also meets other key characters, such as Ms. Bailey, a corrupt official who works hard to improve the lives of the residence at the Robert Taylor Homes. Price and T-Bone, who are the enforcers in the Black Kings for JT, and C-Note, who has countless hustles to make money in the homes. One day, Sudhir questions what JT even does, saying that, “… I just can’t see it being that difficult.” (Venkatesh, 2009) So, JT literally puts Sudhir in his shoes for a day, with one exception, Sudhir said, “I can’t kill anybody, and I can’t sell shit to anybody.” (Venkatesh, 2009) Sudhir the following day realizes how much JT has on his plate in a day, and how hard it really is to all manage. In order to keep cops of their trail, there is minimal written record of what transpires in the gang. So, it all must be memorized. Sudhir also gets the pleasure of meeting a corrupt cop named, officer Reggie. Reggie’s self-proclaimed role in the neighborhood is to mediate gang violence in the most civil way possible. As noble as this may sound Reggie is still blatantly operating outside of the law. Later the same day, Sudhir visits local stores in order to collect protection money. Realizing just how influential the gang presence in this neighborhood really his. Ms. Bailey seemed to get under Sudhir’s skin on this day as well. He found out how she isn’t innocent either in all of this. She bribes and takes bribes in order to make sure things stay safe and up to date in the Robert Taylor Homes. Sudhir isn’t particularly fond of, the ends justify the means, justification.

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At the end of the story, Sudhir receives a “ledger” from T-Bone (Venkatesh, 2009). This book contained all the finances of the gang. Allowing Sudhir to compile it with all the information he has gathered from the Robert Taylor Homes. Flash forward a few years and Sudhir now has his doctorate and works with Harvard and Columbia University thanks to his published findings from his work with JT. Sudhir meets with JT for one last time, their interaction went as if they were reminiscing over the past. Although unspoken, it’s clear that JT and Sudhir have found friendship, in the unlikeliness of places. The Social Disorganization theory will be used to better explain the poor behavior witnessed in the Robert Taylor Homes. This theory isn’t like most other theories in the field, as it is ecological based. Meaning one of its primary tenets is that location, matters. A few of the major things that attribute to social disorganization is poverty, mobility (or the lack thereof), and lack of “self-policing.” This theory doesn’t place the entirety of blame onto the individual’s characteristics such as age, race, gender… Etc. Rather it focuses in on the cultural setting people grow up in specifically, in neighborhoods. This is the heart of the theory, and essentially states that the reason people commit crime (for the most part only street level crime) is that, they are simply just responding normally to their environment. Just like how one would expect a knee to react to a Patellar reflex test. Thus, those who grow up in neighborhoods that have sub-cultures that endorse or normalize crime; should expect the populous to go along with their social norms. Meaning delinquency and deviance is a by-product of sub-cultures, that endorse or normalize criminal actions. Social disorganization theory originated from two scholars research at the university of Chicago, Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay. It has since been one of the more resilient theories that deal with the pathology of places or people. They took interest and developed this theory

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because they noticed that crime was in specific areas within Chicago; regardless of the constant transitioning of the population in those areas. They observed that it was impoverished neighborhoods near areas of commerce or industry. Later concluding that the socioeconomic disadvantage the people faced in these neighborhoods, effectively exposed the populous to criminal behavior. After Shaw and McKay published their work, others such as Sampson and Groves, Bursik and Grasmick, and Kornhauser all contributed and expanded the theory. This theory, however vetted it may be, still has limitations according to the four metrics used to evaluate theory. Specifically, it’s test ability regarding the link of residential instability and poverty to increased crime rates in socially disorganized neighborhoods. Most agree that it logically makes sense however, attempting to validate such a claim often proves difficult to say the least. Prostitution in the Robert Taylor homes in Chicago as described by Sudhir was a managed business by the BK's. Sudhir learns about this from a prostitute in the building, her name was Clarisse. She for the most part, worked uninterrupted throughout the building. Clarisse told him how prostitution was “legal” and a legitimate “hustle” in the Robert Taylor homes if, they paid their “taxes” (also known as protection money) to the gang. She also informed him on how there are prostitutes who are managed, and those who do “freelance” work. Clarisse was a freelance prostitute, meaning she did not have a pimp, and she kept every dollar she earned. The managed ones work for their pimp and pay a large percentage of their hourly rate to them. She said that the advantage of working for a pimp was that you had protection from the john’s (the men who paid for sex). For example, if a john were to get too rough with a girl, the pimp would come in the room and protect her. All of this was normal life for the people who lived in the projects, yet it blatantly violates our laws.

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Applying Social Disorganization to prostitution in the Robert Taylor Homes gives us an understanding as to why this takes place. According to this theory, prostitution exists due to a lack of means to have employment elsewhere in the area. Essentially, since the poverty rate in the building is so high, and the police aren’t “welcome” in the area, new social norms are set. These norms (in this case prostitution) for the people who live in the Robert Taylor Homes aren’t legal to us, the average American, but is part of the daily lives for those who live in these projects. Since their education, music, essentially their culture is so different from ours, it’s completely okay (in their culture) to be and pay a prostitute. Another example of bad behavior in the book, Gang Leader for a Day, is vigilantism. This also ties in with the theory of Social Disorganization. Since the criminal act exist solely because of the lack of organization in the community, or in this case, the Robert Tayler Homes. In the book, the example of vigilantism comes from Chapter 5 where Sudhir is speaking to Catrina near Ms. Bailey’s office when they hear a commotion. Some squatters are yelling that Sudhir and C-Note must stop Bee-Bee, a man who is believed to have just beaten his girlfriend Tanesha. Bee-Bee attempts to flee the building in order to get out of the consequences for his action but, Sudhir managed to kick him to the ground. The group then proceeds with Bee-Bee to Ms. Bailey’s office where she allows them to beat him then drag him to the street where they leave him to suffer. Interestingly vigilantism is used to protect the Robert Taylor Homes instead of American’s normal use of the police force. The residence of the homes due to their culture through social disorganization, and following gang leadership instead of governmental control, result to “courts” of public opinion. This leads to men like Bee-Bee, who may not have even beaten his girlfriend Tanesha, to being assaulted by a “mob”. If the police were called however,

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he would have been arrested and the situation would have been investigated. Unfortunately, as told throughout this book, the police who have jurisdiction over the Robert Taylor Homes are for the most part corrupt and regularly take advantage of the position the residence are in. And according to the Social Disorganization Theory, this is all happening due to the residence ecological environment. The crime of vigilantism would not be occurring if it were not for the factors listed above. Because of their severe poverty and lack of informal social control, the individuals act accordingly to their surroundings. A great example of social disorganization theory is of JT’s “salesmen” who skim off the top of earnings, and JT allowing it because he understands its apart of the “game”. This example comes from chapter 5 when Sudhir learned that salesmen “ripped off” JT. Essentially, the “mixers” who finalize the product, usually diluted the mixtures when baking the crack, and kept a small percentage for themselves to sell. These low-level gang members resorted to “betraying” the group because they received so little pay. This clearly shows disorganization even in what is supposed to be a “tightly knit” gang. Ironically, leading to bad conduct inside of an already illegal operation. Surprisingly, JT allows the salesmen to do this, although still threatens to beat anyone who does it in hopes of keeping the frequency of it down, and just incorporates the losses into the sales projections. All of this, from skimmers, to JT accepting that it’s just apart of their way of life, shows how deeply rooted social disorganization is in the Robert Taylor Homes. How their social norms have shifted so far to where deviance is the norm. The final example that will be used to show how Social Disorganization Theory explains the behavior in the Robert Taylor Homes comes from Chapter 3. Sudhir on a warm summer day is watching an incident unfold where the community members are becoming agitated. A woman called “Boo-Boo”, is claiming that a middle eastern clerk at a local bodega has raped and given

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her daughter, Coco, STD’s. So Sudhir and Price (a lieutenant in the BK’s) head toward the store to find out from those gathered there, that the clerk was receiving sexual favors from CoCo. It turned out that CoCo was doing this in return for items to keep her children fed and clothed. As despicable as the actions are from the store clerk, the “mob” backs down after the owner starts giving away free items from the store. This goes to show how desperate the residence at the Robert Taylor Homes are for necessities, and how important local stores are to them, since they don’t have the means to go to another store. This is where one of the Social Disorganization theory’s primary claims come in to play, that is of mobility of the residence in a community. To apply this to this case, the theory states that the less mobility residence have, the less options they have to choose from when it comes to shopping for essentials (food, clothing… Etc.). Since most of the residence of the Robert Taylor Homes do not have a car or mode of transportation, they are limited to stores within walking range. This theory demonstrates exactly how the clerk was able to successfully extort CoCo, and why these crimes are being committed. From prostitution, to vigilantism, social disorganization perfectly explains the reasons behind the crimes taken place in Gang Leader for a Day. The book stays in one “neighborhood,” and Sudhir writes how most of its residence exhibit delinquency and/or deviance. Applying social disorganization theory to the Robert Taylor Homes, we see that a sub-culture has formed there. A sub-culture that perpetuates criminal behavior, due to the lack of “self-policing”, and the normalization/encouragement of criminal behavior.

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References Schmalleger, F. (2016). Criminology (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson. Bond, M. (n.d.). Criminology: Social Disorganization Theory Explained. Retrieved March 08, 2019, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/criminology-social-disorganization-theoryexplained-mark-bond Ontario, S. (n.d.). Ministry of Children and Youth Services. Retrieved March 08, 2019, from http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/professionals/oyap/roots/volume5/chapter0 4_social_disorganization.aspx Sydes, M. (2019, February 20). Obo. Retrieved March 08, 2019, from http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756384/obo9780199756384-0192.xml Venkatesh, S. A. (2009). Gang leader for a day: A rogue sociologist takes to the streets. New York: Penguin Books Ltd....