The article “‘We Weren’t Like No Regular Dope Fiends’: Negotiating Hustler and Crackhead Identities” by Copes et al. (2008) investigates how people who use cocaine in the streets identify themselves as hustlers. The authors asserted that the impacts of cocaine began in the 1980s when the rich individuals and poor people’s started becoming distressed. The authors have also stated that alcohol use has negatively influenced people in families and society; it has resulted in family issues and violence within the communities. Copes et al. (2008) state that the law-abiding Americans had challenging moments to obey the law and socially segregate themselves from others as they lived in the country’s crack corners. They further argued that the name “crackhead” was used to identify those individuals who had no responsibility and had failed personally. Moreover, Copes et al. (2008) state that the identity could resonate with many people due to the physical impacts of cocaine addictions seen by even casual observers. The addiction resulted in behavior and language changes to make sense of the dealings of the illicit drugs. Besides, the authors argue that division between the drug addicts and other people captured the identity classes by aligning criminals with social groups developed with a criterion correlated with tough, able hustlers and putting aside those related with weak, unable “crackheaders.” The authors applied the social identity conception to evaluate and describe the street identities within the drug markets. In their research, the authors used twenty-eight men who had been convicted of street crimes. They interviewed the participants to understand how the individuals identified themselves using different and contrasting social categories. Upon analysis, Copes et al. (2008) found that street criminals develop meaningful identities to separate themselves from those who display distasteful crack cocaine addiction symptoms. The researchers also found that hustlers' boundaries to segregate themselves within the streets be very important. The boundaries are significant in shaping how the individualized hustlers conduct themselves, their notions of how other people should handle and view them, and the degree to which they distinguish themselves as worthy and reputable people. Conducting interviews helped the authors understand the world of the people involved in violent crimes within the streets. Besides, interviews were effective in developing an understanding of how taking part in the street culture strained the offenders’ decision-making processes. The authors applied the loosely structured technique, which enabled the inmates to express themselves on the things they thought were more relevant. The authors collected their data in private rooms, which ensured the integrity ad confidentiality of the information given. However, the research involved few participants, and therefore the findings could not provide a conclusive understanding of street identities. Also, the research was biased as it involved only men and never included women. The authors should have included women inmates in the research to understand their cultural identity views in the streets. The research was similar to that of Presser (2004). The results from the study by Presser (2004) indicated that the inmates involved in the research excluded themselves from the social groups. The researcher conducted an open-ended interview in which all the 27 participants claimed to be well-mannered (Presser, 2004) . Presser (2004) asserted that delinquent people develop social identities to curb the social challenges designations. The research can be subjected to the theory of cultural transmission in which there is a succession of criminal activity. The social groups can culturally transmit their criminal behaviors to their family members or young ones. The group formation and criminal offenses are passed between generations in which, through socialization, other people are made to deviate from their usual norms. The social disorganization theory could also be incorporated to asserts how economic sabotage results in social disunions that break the normal social institutions like families and schools that fail to hold young people’s interest, neglect them and force them into the streets.
References
Copes, H., Hochstetler, A., & Williams, J. P. (2008). We Weren’t Like No Regular Dope Fiends”: Negotiating Hustler and Crackhead Identities. Social Problems, 55 (2), 254-270.
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Presser, L. (2004). Violent Offenders, Moral Selves: Constructing Identities and Accounts in the Research Interview. Social Problems, 51 (1), 82-101.
