In Alice Goffman’s novel, On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City, Goffman looks into the life of five young African American (Chuck, Mike, Tim, Reggie, and Alex) on 6th street in Philadelphia. 6th street is a neighborhood where many poor, black individuals and families live. In this area, many individuals (mainly young black men) participate in a range of crimes from property crimes and theft to assault and murder. In the novel, Goffman discusses the legal entanglements the men face, the art of running, being a wanted man and the effects on their partners, using jail and other criminal justice systems into personal resources, the social life of criminalized young people, the market in protections and privileges, and “clean people”. I
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Women whose husband/boyfriend are on the run usually are visited by the police in hopes that they would tell them if they know where the man is. The fact that I found disturbing is when the police officers tried to turn the woman against her partner by “making her image a life without him”. (Goffman, Alice. On the run: fugitive life in an American city. Picador/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015. pp.88). This statement refers to the stereotype that a woman needs a man in order to make her happy, which is completely false. The police are cohesioning the woman to help them by isolating them from their partner and turning them against their partner and those who live in the neighborhood (the beliefs and values of the community; the “codes”). The codes are related to Anderson’s “codes of the streets” because many poor, disorganized communities value the idea of respect and gain respect through their actions and possessions. One important value many people who live in these disorganized, poor communities is to not betray your friends and love ones by informing the police of their whereabouts if they are wanted. By cooperating with the police, women are cohesred into going against their community codes and face the social isolation from their partners and from the members of the community which can have a large impact of the woman’s mental
Women whose husband/boyfriend are on the run usually are visited by the police in hopes that they would tell them if they know where the man is. The fact that I found disturbing is when the police officers tried to turn the woman against her partner by “making her image a life without him”. (Goffman, Alice. On the run: fugitive life in an American city. Picador/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015. pp.88). This statement refers to the stereotype that a woman needs a man in order to make her happy, which is completely false. The police are cohesioning the woman to help them by isolating them from their partner and turning them against their partner and those who live in the neighborhood (the beliefs and values of the community; the “codes”). The codes are related to Anderson’s “codes of the streets” because many poor, disorganized communities value the idea of respect and gain respect through their actions and possessions. One important value many people who live in these disorganized, poor communities is to not betray your friends and love ones by informing the police of their whereabouts if they are wanted. By cooperating with the police, women are cohesred into going against their community codes and face the social isolation from their partners and from the members of the community which can have a large impact of the woman’s mental