Summary on "Violence, Older Peers, and the Socialization of Adolescent Boys in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods"

I will be writing a summary of the journal article “Violence, Older Peers, and the Socialization of Adolescent Boys in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods” written by David J. Harding (2009), who argues that, “cross-cohort socialization by older neighborhood peers is one source of socialization for adolescent boys” (Page 445). He uses primary data collection from 60 adolescent boys in three Boston neighborhoods to “understand the causes and consequences of these interactions and relationships” (Harding, 2009, Pg. 445). In the journal article “Violence, Older Peers, and the Socialization of Adolescent Boys in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods” by David J. Harding, Harding (2009) suggests that disadvantaged neighborhoods influence how adolescents make romantic and educational decisions. Adolescents are also more likely socialized with the more accessible older people in the neighborhood who don’t have a job, and work on the streets. The young people feel that socializing with older men in their community that work in the “underground” economy helps with navigation through the dangerous streets and the older men influence their decision. The social isolation theory “argues that lack of participation in the mainstream labor market isolates residents of inner-city communities from middle-class social groups, organizations, and institutions” (Wilson, 1996, pg. 446). That theory, according to Harding (2009), suggests that kids in communities that are have high unemployment, don’t experience a life that is organized around their families work place, so some don’t feel like they need to join the work force in the future for a source of income. They see their community make a living on the streets. One hole in the social isolation theory is that it does not address that in inner-city neighbors, people do, in fact, share some of the same ideals as other social classes such as the desire to get married and the importance of education (Harding, 2009). In ghetto-cultured neighborhoods,

References: Harding, David. (2009). Violence, Older Peers, and the Socialization of Adolescent Boys in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods. American Sociological Review. 74, (3), 445-464.