Living the Drama: Community, Conflict, and Culture among Inner-City Boys

Analysis Paper: Living the Drama
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Institutional Affiliation
Living the Drama: Community, Conflict, and Culture among Inner-City Boys
Living the Drama is a book by David J. Harding that describes the lives of sixty African American and Latino adolescent boys between ages 13 and 18 years living in Boston. The book is comprised of unstructured interviews on the adolescent boys living in Boston neighborhoods aimed at unearthing how their communities influence their experiences, perceptions, and decisions about education, work, relationships and child bearing (Harding, 2010). For comparison purpose, the interviews comprised of 40 boys from poor inner-city and twenty from the working class neighborhoods. The comparative approach was to gauge the similarities and differences between the poor and working-class communities and how the experiences and culture take part in shaping the adolescent boys in their development. The book provides a basis for understanding how boys create social networks to survive and empower themselves and the factors that influence their lives and contributions from their communities. The structure of the book covers topics like neighborhood violence, social attachment and cultural heterogeneity concerning aspects like education and romantic relationships. The main objective of the book is to figure out the elements of poor neighborhoods that significantly shape the type of adolescents they are, and the adults they will become.
The interviews explore the adolescent boys' perceptions regarding everyday aspects and how they are connected to the cultural background. Chris is one of the boys that were interviewed in the book. The boy lives with his mother in an apartment in Franklin Hill and she is the only frequent family member he has. This paper covers the life of Chris and the unique character he builds as he grows up in Franklin Hill, a neighborhood in Boston. It sheds light on the connections Chris has with his macro, mezzo and macro systems and how they influence his life and perceptions. It highlights the influence and effects his neighborhood has on his transition to young adulthood.
Chris’ connectivity to his Micro, Mezzo and Macro Systems
1 Micro System
The microsystem in Chris' life is not well connected as we see that the main family member in his life is his mother. The relationship Chris has with his mother is different from that of normal teenagers in working-class neighborhoods as we see that she knows the dangers present in the neighborhood but she does not stop him from the interactions despite his age; Chris is 14 years old. He has a half- brother (Darnel) of whom he does not find about until the interviews cover his brother and a father who is rarely involved in his life. The conflicting relationships he has with his immediate family can be attributed to the economic problems and the separation of his parents; which are some factors that strain the microsystems of adolescents (Hutchison, 2015). He has a warm relationship with his mother because she even advises him on matters like sex and the effects of his choices. His father, who is rarely involved in his life, has another family in another neighborhood which would mean that Chris did not have someone to talk to about issues like violence, drug use and sexual behavior which provided a big gap in the boy’s life as the neighborhood had the slogan that ‘your mother cannot teach you to be a man’. This explains why he had to turn to his uncle and mother for advice on sex. Despite, his unavailability, Chris still believes that his father can support his music career by supporting him financially.
His friends are mostly made up of gangs mainly as a means of protection and identity. This is seen by the support they give him when there was a potential fight. The friendships he maintains especially with other boys of his age are mainly as a protective measure to ensure that they are safe from older guys from neighboring communities like Franklin Field. He also has a girlfriend who she considers as a sister who is his neighbor. The friendship with this girl is different from the one he has with his male friends although, to some extent, it has protective and identity reasons because fights over girls are common between rival gangs and communities.
The microsystem in Chris' life is not well connected and is sustained mainly by necessity. The absence of his father makes him be self- sufficient and independent in making decisions that concern him. That would explain why he sought advice from his older friends on matters like sex and career advice. The influence of his peers on his life decisions is more powerful than that of his parents because of the protective factors necessitated by the prevalence of violence in his community (McCarter, 2015). The strong ties within his community borders can influence a teenager to believe that life requires solidarity and support to survive. The environment in Franklin Hill can make teenagers like Chris to develop strong friendship ties for support.
2 The mezzo system
The interaction between elements of the Microsystem and other external systems results in the mezzo system which covers the external group or individual association (Eamon, 2001). The mezzo system, involving the neighborhood, is perhaps the strongest and most influential in Chris’ life. In his interviews, he mentions his ‘boys’ more than he mentions a single friend in his life. This shows how the linkages on his mezzo system are strong and pose as the main factors for most of his perception of the world around him. He views himself as a part of a larger community who fight for each other’s interests and has a responsibility to play in ensuring the safety of his neighborhood.
At one time, Chris chooses to remain in Boston to ‘guard’ his neighborhood. In the interview, he says that “I can’t go out of here… if I leave and something happens, I’ve got to come right back.”He feels more obligated towards the safety off his territory than to spend time with his family. The ‘boys’ usually accompany him to most places as the neighborhood can erupt into violence at any time. The gangs are usually to protect them from external violence which can have a negative perception of the outside neighbors in the eyes of the teenagers. Franklin adolescent boys take any other guys from outside the neighborhood as an enemy and a potential threat which can make his interactions out of his community hard. The relationship he has with the neighborhood boys affects his notion about sex and drug use as they motivate him to engage in sex at the age of thirteen. The heavy segmentation in his neighborhood can send a message that people from outside his neighborhood or social class are enemies and nurture classism into their transition into adulthood.
Rapping and music are common in Boston which has motivated Chris and his friends to start a music group named 'Bean City' in their pursuit to supplement their income and advance their welfare. The string mezzo system he attributes to makes it easier for him to get a group of people who can join hands to work on the same project. One of his friend's father owns the studio where they practice their music which indicates how well the community is supportive to its people. The well-linked mezzo system can help a teenager establish strong ties around him for support and propose the pluralistic approach to solving his problems.
3 Macrosystem
Poverty characterizes the neighborhood Chris comes from with his house being a creaky, poorly lit and ventilated apartment where he lives with his mother. The Franklin community defines his macro system as the community is governed by the same administration. Harding (2010) describes Franklin Hill as an area with poor housing projects and the Community Development Corporation (CDC) is in shambles. The l...