Female-Female Non-Partner Assault: A Political-Economic Theory of Street Codes and Female-Gendered Culture in the Contemporary African-American Inner City
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online March, 2008
Female-Female Non-Partner Assault: A Political-Economic Theory of Street Codes and Female-Gendered Culture in the Contemporary African-American Inner City
In this article we present a theory of the prevalence of female-female non-partner violence in the African-American inner city. We employ `ghetto' (economic) and `internal colony' (political) models to illuminate dimensions of the African-American inner city which we view as proximal determinants of female-female interpersonal violence. These cultural and structural elements include conflict within the separate female-gendered cultural milieu centered in the female-headed household system, and the `rule of force' imposed by agencies of social control as the cultural model for dominance, oppression, and interpersonal violence. Verbatim accounts provided by respondents injured in female-female violent interactions are offered as illustrations of the theory.
Anderson, E. (1993) Sex Codes and Family Life among Poor Inner-City Youth. W.J. Wilson (ed.) The Ghetto Underclass: Social Science Perspectives, pp. 76—95. Sage: Newbury Park.
2.
Anderson, E. (1999) Code of the Street: Decency, Violence and the Moral Life of the Inner City. Norton: New York.
3.
Artz, S. (1998) Sex, Power and the Violent School Girl. Teachers College Press: New York.
4.
Baraka, A. (1991) Endangered Species. The Source24: 33.
5.
Baskin, D. and Sommers, I. (1998) Casualties of Community Disorder. Westview Press: Boulder.
6.
Black, D. (1983) Crime as Social Control. American Sociological Review48(1): 34—45.
7.
Blauner, R. (1969) Internal Colonialism and Ghetto Revolt. Social Problems16(4): 393—408.
8.
Bluestone, B. and Harrison, B. (1982) The De-Industrialization of America: Plant Closings, Community Abandonment, and the Dismantling of Basic Industry. Basic Books: New York.
9.
Bonacich, E. (1976) Advanced Capitalism and Black/White Race Relations in the United States: A Split Labor Market Interpretation. American Sociological Review41(1): 34—51.
10.
Burawoy, M. (1976) The Functions and Reproduction of Migrant Labor: Comparative Material from South Africa and the United States. American Journal of Sociology81(5): 1050—87.
11.
Campbell, A. (1993) Staying Alive: Evolution, Culture and Women's Intrasexual Aggression. Behavioral and Brain Sciences22(2): 203—52.
12.
Cooper, H., Moore, L., Gruskin, S. and Krieger, N. (2004) Characterizing Perceived Police Violence: Implications for Public Health. American Journal of Public Health94(7): 1109—18.
13.
DuBois, W.E.B. (1903) The Souls of Black Folk. A.C. McClurg: Chicago.
14.
Fanon, F. (1963) The Wretched of the Earth. Grove Press: New York.
15.
Glenn, E.N. (1983) Split Household, Small Producer and Dual Wage Earner: An Analysis of Chinese-American Family Strategies. Journal of Marriage and the Family45(1): 35—46.
16.
Grisso, J.A., Schwarz, D.F., Hirschinger, N.B., Sammel, M., Bensinger, C., Santanna, J., Lowe, R.A., Anderson, E., Law, L.M., Bethel C.A. and Teeple, L. (1999) Violent Injuries Among Women in Urban Areas. New England Journal of Medicine341(25): 1899—1905.
17.
Hammond, W.R. and Yung, B. (1993) Psychology's Role in the Public Health Response to Assaultive Violence among Young African American Men. American Psychologist48(2): 142—54.
18.
Haney, L. (1996) Homeboys, Babies, Men in Suits: The State and the Reproduction of Male Dominance. American Sociological Review61(5): 759—78.
19.
Hannerz, U. (1969) Soulside: Inquiries into Ghetto Culture and Community. ColumbiaUniversity Press: New York .
20.
Harrison, B. and Bluestone, B. (1988) The Great U-Turn: Corporate Restructuring and the Polarizing of America. Basic Books: New York.
21.
Hawkins, D. (2001) Commentary on Randall Kennedy's Overview of the Justice System. N.J. Smelser, W.J. Wilson and F. Mitchell (eds) America Becoming: Racial Trends and Their Consequences , pp. 32—51. National Academy Press: Washington, DC.
22.
Hays, S. (2004) Flat Broke with Children: Women in the Age of Welfare Reform. Oxford University Press: New York.
23.
Hind, R.J. (1984) The Internal Colonial Concept. Comparative Studies in Society and History26(3): 543—68.
24.
Hirschinger, N.B., Grisso, J.A., Schwarz, D.F., Wallace, D.B., McCollum, K.F., Sammel, M., Bensiger, C. and Anderson, E. (2003) A Case-Control Study of Female-to-Female Nonintimate Violence in an Urban Area. American Journal of Public Health93(7): 1098—1103.
25.
Hogan, R. (1985) The Frontier as Social Control. Theory and Society14(1): 35—51.
26.
Jacobs, D. (1979) Inequality and Police Strength: Conflict Theory and Coercive Control in Metropolitan Areas. American Sociological Review44(6): 913—25.
27.
Jacobs, D. and Britt, D. (1979) Inequality and Police Use of Deadly Force: An Empirical Assessment of a Conflict Hypothesis. Social Problems26(3): 403—12.
28.
Jacobs, D. and O'Brien, R.M. (1998) The Determinants of Deadly Force: A Structural Analysis of Police Violence. American Journal of Sociology103(4): 837—62.
29.
Jones, N. (2004) It's Not Where You Love, It's How You Love: Young Women Negotiate Conflict and Violence in the Inner City. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science595(1): 49—62.
30.
Kent, S.L. and Jacobs, D. (2004) Social Divisions and Coercive Control in Advanced Societies: Law Enforcement Strength in Eleven Nations from 1975 to 1994. Social Problems51(3): 343—61.
31.
Korpi, W. (2003) Welfare-State Regress in Western Europe: Politics, Institutions, Globalization, and Europeanization. Annual Review of Sociology29: 589—609.
32.
Kubrin, C.E. and Weitzer, R. (2003) Retaliatory Homicide: Concentrated Disadvantage and Neighborhood Culture. Social Problems50(2): 157—80.
33.
Lewis, D.K. (1975) The Black Family: Socialization and Sex Roles. Phylon36(3): 221—37.
34.
Liebow, E. (1967) Tally's Corner: A Study of Negro Streetcorner Men . Little, Brown: Boston.
35.
Maher, L. and Curtis, R. (1992) Women on the Edge of Crime: Crack Cocaine and the Changing Context of Street Level Sex Work in New York City. Crime, Law, and Social Change18(3): 221—58.
36.
Marable, M. (1983) How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems of Race, Political Economy and Society. South End Press : Boston.
37.
Miller, J. (2001) One of the Guys: Girls, Gangs, and Gender. Oxford University Press: New York.
38.
Neckerman, K.M. (1993) The Emergence of `Underclass' Family Patterns, 1900—1940. M.B. Katz (ed.) The Underclass Debate: Views from History, pp. 194—219. Princeton University Press: Princeton.
39.
Ness, C.D. (2004) Why Girls Fight: Female Youth Violence in the Inner City. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science595(1): 32—48.
40.
Nurge, D. (2000) The Risks and Rewards of Gang Membership: A Qualitative Study of the Nature, Context and Gender Dynamics of Female Gangs and Cliques in Boston. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Department of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University.
41.
Parker, K., McCall, P.L. and Lane, J. (2002) Exploring the Racial Discrimination and Competition Processes of Race-Specific Violence in the Urban Context. Critical Sociology28(1/2): 235—54.
42.
Rose, T. (1994) Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. Wesleyan University Press: Hanover and London.
43.
Sampson, R.J. and Bartusch, D.J. (1998) Legal Cynicism and (Subcultural?) Tolerance of Deviance: The Neighborhood Context of Racial Differences. Law and Society Review32(4): 777—804.
44.
Savitch, H. (1978) Black Cities White Suburbs: Domestic Colonialism as an Interpretive Idea. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science439(1): 118—34.
45.
Simmons, R. (2002) Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls. Harcourt: New York.
46.
Staples, R. (1975) White Racism, Black Crime, and American Justice: An Application of the Colonial Model to Explain Crime and Race. Phylon36(1): 14—22.
47.
Stern, M.J. (1993) Poverty and Family Composition since 1940. M.B. Katz (ed.) The Underclass Debate: Views from History, pp. 220—53. Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ.
48.
Tabb, W.K. (1970) The Political Economy of the Black Ghetto. Norton: New York.
49.
US Department of Justice (2002) National Crime Victimization Survey, 1992—2001. ICPSR 3428, 1st ICPSR Edition. ICPSR: Ann Arbor.
50.
Wacquant, L. (2001) Deadly Symbiosis: When Ghetto and Prison Meet and Mesh. Punishment and Society3(1): 95—134.
51.
Wacquant, L. (2002) From Slavery to Mass Incarceration: Rethinking the `Race Question' in the U. S. New Left Review13(Jan/Feb): 41—60.
52.
Washington, E.B. (1995) Uncivil War. Transition66: 150—55.
53.
Watts, E.K. (1997) An Exploration of Spectacular Consumption: Gangsta Rap as Cultural Commodity. Communication Studies48(1): 42—58.
54.
Weitzer, R.J. and Tuch, S.A. (2004) Race and Perceptions of Police Misconduct. Social Problems51(3):305—25.
55.
West, C. and Zimmerman, D.H. (1987) Doing Gender. Gender and Society1(2): 125—151.
56.
Williams, D.R. (2001) Racial Variations in Adult Health Status: Patterns, Paradoxes, and Prospects. N.J. Smelser, W.J. Wilson and F. Mitchell (eds) America Becoming: Racial Trends and Their Consequences , pp. 371—410. National Academy Press: Washington, DC.
57.
Wilson, W.J. (1978) The Declining Significance of Race: Blacks and Changing American Institutions. University of Chicago Press : Chicago.
58.
Wilson, W.J. (1987) The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.
59.
Wilson, W.J. (1996) When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. Random House: New York.
60.
Wolff, K.H. (1950) The Sociology of Georg Simmel: Translated, Edited and with an Introduction by Kurt H. Wolff. Free Press: New York.
61.
Yancey, W.L., Saporito, S. and Thadani, R. (1995) Neighborhoods, Troubles, and School: The Ecology of Philadelphia'sPublic Schools. Temple UniversityCenter for Research in Human Development and Education: Philadelphia.
