بحث عن الاحترام بالانجليزي

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The value of respect in East Harlem’s crack economy subculture dictates the structural forces its culture creates and maintains. These structural forces directly affect the levels of social inequality present in the society.
Development of Inner-City Street Culture and the Importance of Respect

The inner-city street culture developed in reaction to inequalities people suffered in mainstream society: “street culture offers an alternative forum for autonomous personal dignity” (Bourgois 1996: Cool

. Respect is integral to this subculture; it was created, ultimately, as another path through which people can strive for respect.

It is important to note that though the economy revolves around crack, “substance abuse in the inner city is merely a symptom – and a vivid symbol – of deeper dynamics of social marginalization and alienation” (Bourgois 1996: 2). Crack, then, is not the aim of the subculture, but a center it operates around.

The crack economy, in fact, sprang from the search for respect; people needed an alternative to undesirable minimum-wage jobs, to fit with “the street-defined dignity of refusing to work honestly for low wages” (Bourgois 1996: 130).

People could not earn respect or feel respected in the subordinate positions they would be working in: “Obedience to the norms of high-rise, office-corridor culture is in direct contradiction to street culture’s definitions of personal dignity – especially for males who are socialized not to accept public subordination” (Bourgois 1996: 115).

Dealing crack provides a different avenue for dignity and respect. Although most residents of East Harlem are not involved with drugs in any way, the minority who are “have managed to set the tone for public life” (Bourgois 1996: 10). The crack economy, therefore, serves as an important structural force in the culture of East Harlem.
Earning Respect through Violence in Street Culture

Though the inner-city street culture rose out of frustration with inequality and oppression, it is not a culture of equality. Just as in the mainstream American culture it rebels against, respect is still something that has to be earned.

However, the ways of earning respect in inner-city street culture vary drastically, even defiantly, from those in mainstream American society. One method of earning respect is through violence:

“Regular displays of violence are essential for preventing rip-offs by colleagues, customers, and professional holdup artists. Indeed, upward mobility in the underground economy of the street-dealing world requires a systematic and effective use of violence against one’s colleagues, one’s neighbors, and, to a certain extent, against oneself. Behavior that appears irrationally violent, “barbaric’”, and ultimately self-destructive to the outsider, can be reinterpreted according to the logic of the underground economy as judicious public relations and long-term investment in one’s “human capital development” (Bourgois 1996: 24).

Though to an outsider violence may seem like a symptom of chaos, in the con,,,, of inner-city street culture it is a part of the order of society and a legitimate way to earn respect.

Private Property in Street Culture

Private property, in contrast, is a structural force that greatly influences inequality in inner-city street culture. As Bourgois notes, crack dealers too participated in the “conspicuous consumption” that also characterizes many people in mainstream American culture, an economy that “fetishizes material goods and services” (Bourgois 1996: 91).

Because people have different financial resources, this creates a striking inequality between the rich and the poor. In inner-city street culture, what people own can define the respect they are given. Because inner-city street culture views respect as something to be earned, their structural forces reflect this ideology and create a challenge that separates people and therefore causes inequality.

Bragging in Street Culture

In inner-city street culture, bragging is expected and accepted; for example, crack dealers will exaggerate how much money they make.

“Street dealers tend to brag to outsiders and to themselves about how much money they make each night. In fact, their income is almost never as consistently high as they report it to be” (Bourgois 1996: 91).

Inequality in Inner-City Street Culture

The inner-city street culture, where respect must be earned, involves inequality; private property creates and emphasizes differences between people, people are expected to declare and even exaggerate their accomplishments, and leaders are powerful and commanding.

Source

Bourgois, Philippe. In Search of Respect. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996.