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Summary Of Gang Leader For A Day

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Gang Leader for a Day is a novel about Sudhir Venkatesh who is a student, studying Sociology at the University of Chicago. At the beginning of the book, Sudhir went to a house where there is known drug and gang activity to describe the people he saw at the residence to survey some of the people pertaining to sociological concepts. The location of the residence was in an urban, low-income neighborhood, which was inhabited by a primarily African American community. This could pertain to Differential Assoication because he went to high-crime area. Differential association suggest that all human behavior is learned behavior, therefore, if a person grows up around crime and gang activity, they are much more likely to follow in those footsteps as …show more content…

A person is not born as a criminal, it is watched and picked up on by the individual through social influences. The theory can predict whether an individual will turn to a criminal path rather than one that abides by the laws. If a person watches crime be committed and is around crimes and deviant behvavior during their impressionable years, it is much more likely that they will follow in those footsteps and become a criminal themselves. The motivation for crime could be heightened by being low-class or living in a high-crime community. One of the main critiques is that people can be individually motivated. Circumstances can arise that cause individuals to commit crimes, even though they have not been around it and have not learned the behavior. If someone was from a community that rarely saw any crime, it is still possible that that person could turn to criminal deviance. By using the Four Metrics for Evaluating Theory, you can break down the Theory of Differential Association. The theory has logical consistency because each of the 9 propositons stated all are able to build on each other and come together to conclude one thought. The scope is realistic when you take into account the steady number of crimes committed in a single area as compared to another area that does not have as many criminal acts. It shows that the behavior is being learned and crimes are being continually committed even if those who get caught are taken out of the area. The Theory of Differential Association can be tested by looking at the children in areas of high-crimes versus areas of low-crime. Crimes are continually being committed in the high-crime areas and those areas of low-crime are staying at the same rate of being low-crime, standing with the claim of the theory that crime is a learned behavior. One can test the validity of this theory by

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