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

Abstract

Where the rule of law does not apply, survival depends on intimate knowledge of this powerful, inflexible etiquette that colors every human transaction. Inner-city black America often seems to be defined by random, senseless street violence. In fact, although violence is a salient feature of inner-city communities, its use is far from random; it is regulated through an informal but well-known code of the street. How you dress, how you talk, whether you make eye contact, your understanding of the pecking order-such crucial details can have life-or-death consequences, and young people are particularly at risk. As Elijah Anderson shows in this brilliant anatomy of the inner-city psyche, the code is 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. The police exercise no control here, and the individual's safety and sense of worth are defined by how much respect he can command in public; this deference is based on physical and psychological control and, always, on an implied threat of violence. The most powerful force counteracting the code and its reign of terror is the strong, loving, decent family, and we meet many heroic figures in the course of this narrative. Unfortunately, the culture of the street thrives and often defeats decency because it controls public spaces, so that individuals with higher, better aspirations are often entangled in the code and its self-destructive behaviors.