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

Analysis Paper: Living the Drama
Name:
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 a...