Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City

Inner-city black America is often stereotyped as a place of random violence, but in fact, violence in the inner city is regulated through an informal but well-known code of the street. This unwritten set of rules--based largely on an individual's ability to command respect--is a powerful and pervasive form of etiquette, governing the way in which people learn to negotiate public spaces. Elijah Anderson's incisive book delineates the code and examines it as a response to the lack of jobs that pay a living wage, to the stigma of race, to rampant drug use, to alienation and lack of hope.

ISBN-13: 9780393320787

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Publication Date: 09-17-2000

Pages: 352

Product Dimensions: 8.24h x 5.47w x 0.81d

Anderson, Elijah: - Elijah Anderson is Sterling Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Yale University. His most prominent works include the award-winning books Code of the Street and Streetwise. He lives in New Haven and Philadelphia.