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33 pages 1 hour read

Elijah Anderson

Code of the Street

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1999

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Chapter 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

In the first chapter of the book, Anderson identifies two types of families living in the inner city: “decent” and “street” families. While “decent” families often cultivate hope in the future by aspiring to build something with their lives, “street” families’ lives are “often marked by disorganization” (45). At the more extreme end of “street” families, criminality is normalized in a complete and definitive departure from the rules of mainstream society and civil law.

Another key difference that Anderson identifies between “decent” and “street” families pertains to code-switching. Code-switching is switching dialects or vocabularies between contexts; in this case, it means switching between casual, inner-city vernacular and the sort of language used in professional institutions, which are often white-coded. “Decent” families are more likely to understand the nuances and social importance of code-switching, while “street” families are either unwilling or unable to code-switch, which further exacerbates their alienation from mainstream society. While “decent” families often make plans that involve upward mobility, “street” families see these aspirations as a sort of betrayal, “selling out” or “acting white.” Anderson explains that “decent” and “street” families clash, often within the same extended families, which then turns into violent conflict.

This particular dynamic is illustrated in the case of Yvette, a young woman from a “decent” family who dreams of someday becoming a doctor. To protect Yvette from the street code, her parents have often kept her away from her extended family and limited her contact with the “street” mentality. Driven by her goals for the future, Yvette understands that her parents’ protection has been vital to her own focus and determination. Yet, as Anderson points out in the closing lines of the chapter, for most young people in the inner city, having some form of contact with the code of the street is basically unavoidable.

Thematically, Anderson focuses mostly on the complexity of family in this chapter. On the one hand, the distinction between “decent” and “street” families is already a complex dichotomy, as the conditions that shape both types of families are often circumstantial. On the other hand, having both “decent” and “street” values prioritized within the same extended family brings a unique set of challenges, particularly to young men in search of their own individual and cultural identities. Thus, Anderson’s choice to dichotomize these two types of families is not a fixed categorization, but rather a commentary on the complexity of family dynamics in neighborhoods that have been characterized by joblessness and intergenerational poverty.

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