Structure and Culture in African American Adolescent Violence: A Partial Test of the “Code of the Street” Thesis

Abstract

Researchers studying the race–violence relationship have tended to focus on either structural or cultural explanations. Although both explanations are important, they tend to be incomplete. We draw on Anderson’s “code of the street” thesis, which combines structural and cultural explanations to explain the high rates of violence among African American adolescents. Anderson argues that the street code, which supports the use of violence, is a cultural adaptation to negative neighborhood structural conditions, as well as family characteristics and racial discrimination. Using two waves of data from 720 African American adolescents from 259 neighborhoods, we investigated whether neighborhood context, family type, and discrimination influenced adoption of the street code. We also assessed whether the street code mediated the effects of neighborhood context, family characteristics, and racial discrimination on violent delinquency. Consistent with Anderson’s hypotheses, neighborhood structural characteristics, living in a street family, and discrimination significantly predicted adopting the street code. Moreover, the street code mediated about one fifth of neighborhood effects on violent delinquency, about one fifth of the effect of racial discrimination, and about 4 percent of the effect of family characteristics on violent delinquency. Overall, the results suggest that neighborhood context, family characteristics, and racial discrimination directly influence adopting the street code, and partially influence violence indirectly through the street code.