Students are required to read the ethnography, Code of the Street. Upon completion, each student will write a paragraph describing his/her reaction to the book. Students will also provide five examples from the book that illustrate concepts, or constructs, from theories we have studied during this course. Each example should be a few sentences describing the examples in Code of the Street of concepts or factors, what theories call constructs, that increase, or decrease, crime according to the different theories we are studying.

There are many examples of Miller’s focal concerns, what Cohen calls reaction formation, what Agnew calls strain, and many other constructs from theories you will study. You must use five different theories and use the specific theory rather than a general category. For example, a student would have to use social learning theory rather than the social process category.

Below is an example of modeling because that is a concept (construct) that may already be familiar to you:

When Anderson says the children of Dickens, a suspected crack dealer, are “learning by example…to be loud, boisterous, proudly crude, and uncouth – in short, street” on page 47, he is providing an example of learning by modeling people with whom you associate that can cause crime according to Akers’s social learning theory.

Each example should be numbered and should include the following:

1. Specifically describe the language from the book in quotes that provides the illustration of the construct.
2. Include the page number.
3. Name the construct illustrated.
4. Identify the specific theory and the theorist who says that construct or factor will influence behavior.

The Rubric is in the file