Gang Leader for a Day:
A Rogue Sociologist Takes
to the Streets
Sudhir Venkatesh, Penguin
Books, 2008
WHAT IS FIELD RESEARCH?
 Field researchers directly observe and
participate in natural social settings
 Examine social world “up close”
 Field researchers work w/ qualitative data
 There are several kinds:
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
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Ethnography
Participant observation
Informal “depth” interviews
Focus groups
8 Stages of a Field Research Study
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
Preparing
Starting the research project
Being in the field
Developing strategies for success in the field
Observing and taking field notes
Conducting field interviews
Leaving the field
Writing the field research report
Robert
Taylor
Homes,
Chicago
Robert Taylor Homes
The “gallery”- Robert Taylor Homes
Power vs Authority (Weber)
 power: the ability of an actor to realize his/her
will in a social action, even against the will of
other actors
 power relates to the ability to command resources in
a particular context
 often relies on the use of force or coercion
 authority: the probability that specific commands
will be obeyed.
 In other words, to have authority in a particular
domain means that one's directives will be followed
 authority is power + legitimacy
Weber’s definition of a state
 A state (more commonly called gov’t) is
the sovereign authority in a specified
territory, with the right to use force both to
maintain internal order and to defend its
territory against aggression. Sovereignty,
in turn, implies that the state is the ultimate
authority in its territory, exercising legal
jurisdiction over its citizens and the groups
and organizations they form in the conduct
of daily life. (Lechner & Boli, p. 219)
Does “culture” cause crime?
 The "culture of poverty" perspective looks to
cultural factors in order to account for persistent
poverty. One early version of the theory
attributed the persistence of a black urban
underclass to "values" – such communities, it
was said, did not value hard work, education,
saving, and various other core American/middleclass values. More recently, scholars are taking
another look at how culture and persistent
poverty are enmeshed.
What about blocked access to the
“American Dream”?
 Or is the problem that Robert Taylor residents
shared American values – the American dream
– yet did not have the means to realize them?
 According to "anomie theory" (an updated
version of Durkheim's theory), when there's a
mismatch between culturally accepted goals and
the legitimate means to achieve them, anomie
(or strain) will result
 One response to anomie is "innovation," where
people strive toward culturally prescribed goals,
but by illegitimate (often criminal) means
 Gangs are a typical example
Anomie theory (or strain theory)
 Robert Merton’s anomie theory locates cause of
deviance in a disjuncture (or mismatch) between
culturally prescribed goals (values) and socially
structured means (norms) to achieve them
 Individuals in such a society must adapt to this
mismatch, and some adaptations may lead to
deviance
 Members of classes or ethnic or racial groups
that experience this disjuncture most acutely are
more likely to make deviant adaptations
Modes of adaptation to
anomie/strain
1. Conformity
2. Innovation
3. Ritualism
4. Retreatism
5. Rebellion
Values (goals)
Norms (means)
+
+
x
+
+
x
Modes of adaptation are distinguished by
responses to culturally prescribed goals (values)
and socially structured means (norms)
1. Conformity: to conform to goals and means, and avoid
becoming deviant
-most common response to strain in every society
2. Innovation: to strive toward culturally prescribed goals,
but by illegitimate (often criminal) means
3. Ritualism: to conform to society’s norms (means) w/o
expectation of achieving culturally prescribed goals
(values)
4. Retreatism: to reject goals and means, withdraws
emotionally, socially
5. Rebellion: to construct “a new social order” of goals
and means to replace conventional values and norms