Yosso, Tara J. (March 2005). "Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of
community cultural wealth." (24 pages).
There is a stereotype that people who are not white do not carry the same amount of
knowledge as the middle and higher class. Which this article is referring to as white people.
"CRT shifts the research away from a deficit view of Communities of Color as places full of
cultural property disadvantages, and instead focuses on and learns from the array of cultural
knowledge, skills, abilities and contacts possessed by socially marginalized groups that often go
unrecognized and unacknowledged" (Yosso 2005).
The middle and upper class considered African Americans as uneducated people.
However, they were not the only ones that were being thought of as uneducated. Realizing that is
wasn't only African Americans who were being thought of as uneducated, the CRT expanded
later on to include women, Latinos, Pacific Americans, etc. "For example, LatCrit, TribalCrit,
and AsianCrit are branches of CRT, evidencing Chicana/o, Latina/o, Native American and Asian
American communities ongoing search for a framework that addresses racism and its
accompanying oppressions beyond the Black/White binary (Ikamoto, 1992; Chang, 1993,1998;
Chon, 1996; Delgado, 1997; Williams, 1997; Brayboy, 2001, 2002)" (Yosso 2005). These
classes that are being taught are not meant to best one another in seeing who is more oppressed
than the other. One of the major outcomes that CRT wants is to challenge the dominant ideology.
"CRT challenges notions of 'neutral' research or 'objective' researchers and exposes deficitinformed research that silences, ignores and distorts epistemologies of People of Color (Delgado
Bernal, 1998; Ladson Billings, 2000). CRT argues that these traditional claims act as a
camouflage for the self-interest, power, and privilege of dominant groups in US society (Bell,
1987; Calmore, 1992; Solorzan, 1997)" (Yosso 205).
"According to Bourdieu, cultural capital refers to an accumulation of cultural knowledge,
skills and abilities possesed and inhereted by privilegedgroups in society" (Yosso 2005).
Therefore, while Bourdieu's work sought to provide a structural critique of social and cultural
reproduction, his theory of cultural capital has been used to assert that some communities are
culturally wealthy while others are culturally poor" (Yosso 2005). This statement says that white
people are the standard that everyone else is compared to. On the other hand, there are actually
different types of cultural capital that one can possess. People who have different ethnic
backgrounds will experience cultural capital that is important to them, but maybe not important
to others. For instance, a Hispanic child that knows English may not be admired by many. But he
is admired by his parents who he can translate information for some as e-mails. There are 6
different forms of cultural wealth that "People of Color" care about. These 6 forms of wealth are
aspirational, navigational, social, linguistic, familial, and resistant wealth. "Scholars note that
historically, People of Color have utilized their social capital to attain education, legal justice,
employment and health care" (Yosso 2005). While certain people may not reward these 6 forms
of wealth as promising to them, but to others they are very valuable.
I enjoyed reading this article because it really makes you think of what different things
are considered valuable to different people. Wealth is not measured by how many things a person
owns, but how you utilize the things you do have.
Wallerstein, Immanuel. (August 29, 2014). Anthropology, Sociology, and Other Dubious
Disciplines. (8 pages).
The article progresses as you read further and further into it. The article starts out by
saying that the disciplines consists of three main parts: intellectual, institutional, and cultural.
The article goes on to later explain the cultures of social science.
Wallerstein explains that when it comes to the individual part of disciplines, the
intellectual part goes into explaining the justifications for why there are the different fields. He
also explains the main divisions of characteristics for scholars who participate in different fields.
There are three different types of scholars. Two of the groups of scholars having opposing
characteristics which lead them down opposite paths of employment. The third type of scholar is
said to be the remaining scholars who don't fit in the other two categories.
Wallerstein goes into some detail when explaining the characteristics for the three kinds
of scholars. "There is clearly a largo camp of persons who hold onto the classic nommothetic
vision-- who wish to construct the most general laws possible about social behavior via quasiexperimental designs, using data that are presumably replicable and on the whole as quantitative
as possible" (Wallerstein 2014). The scholars who hold these types of beliefs go into the fields of
economics and political science. The second type of scholar Wallerstein explains as having
views different than those who go into the field of economics and political science. These
scholars are known to be anthropologists and historians. The third and final scholar who simply
don't feel comfortable in either one of the other camps. "This group is found all over the place-in history, in sociology, in anthropology, in geography, in economics (especially of course
economic history), and in political science-- but always as a minority" (Wallerstein 2014).
This reading I found a little difficult to read. There were some parts that I read better than
others that I could keep up with.
Tagg, John. (August 26, 2014). The Learning Paradigm College. (22 pages).
The first chapter states that students are becoming lazier than they used to be.
Furthermore, the strive to excel and succeed is diminishing. The second chapter focuses on two
different theories on how student's learn.
In Chapter 5, Tagg proclaims that students simply lack desire to learn at school. Simply
showing up to classes and sitting in the classroom will be satisfactory. By just showing up to
class and doing the minimum amount of work to pass will get them to the end result of recieving
a high school diploma. In this chapter, Tagg mainly focuses on the fact that students now do not
strive for greatness in the classroom, but they simply stick to average or mediocre work. When it
comes to chapter 6, concentration is shifted towards focusing on the different main ways that
students learn. Tagg says that students can either strive under pressure and work well with
anxiety, or fall when under pressure.
In chapter 5, Tagg focuses on the point that high school students are no longer truly
motivated to work hard in class. Most students are simply present to get in and get out as quickly
as possible without paying attention. "Students correctly perceive that if they just 'hang out' for
four years and avoid incarceration, they will probably graduate" (Tagg 2014). This mindset is
definitely visible in the classroom. "[W]hen they are in school, a large porportion of students are
physically present but psychologically absent. According to their own reports, between one-third
and 40% of students say that when they are in class, they are neither trying very hard nore paying
attention" (Tagg 2014). Evidence shows that students are not displaying their full amount of
potential.
I can see what the writer of this article is talking about. This doesn't mean that I'm not
offended, because I am currently a student myself, but I can see what the writer i trying to say.
On the other hand, not all students are becoming lazier. It is shocking to see the amount of
people that don't try in the classroom, but this doesn't mean that everyone doesn't try.
Wheelan, Shannon. (June 28, 2002). "Continuous academic improvement [electronic
resource] : a case study of private and public school." (64 pages).
This article was made to compare public school with private school. The public school
remained anonymous while the private school was Notre Dame High School. This article
compares three main factors to see the difference in the two schooling systems: the teacher
quality, the academics, and the budget. You could be surprised to find out just how similar, or
different, these two types of schools may be.
Teacher quality for public schools may not be as great as one thinks. When it comes to
obtaining the necessary credentials to teach high school students, some "teachers" may not
exactly be qualified. The State Department of Education occasionally hand "emergemcy
credentials" to those who are struggling to obtain a teaching degree because there is a shortage of
public school teachers. When it comes to hiring teachers for the private school, the principal is
the one who hand selects what teachers will work to best educate the students attending the
private school. Nonetheless, teachers from both the public school and the private school work in
teams. By having the teachers work together, teachers are more successful with helping students
achieve their full potentials. The second main factor considered, academics, sees a noticeable
difference in the public and private schools. The public school has a higher number of students in
each classroom, which translates into having a higher number of students to teacher ratio.
Furthermore, private schools require 1-2 times as many years of instruction for students in order
to make graduation requirements. The private school explains this by saying the more years of
instruction the better prepared students will be for a four year college. The only special academic
the private school lacks is a special needs program. They do however make sure to make certain
accommodations to make school easier.
Public school teachers do not always carry sufficient credentials needed to teach students.
For instance, "Emergency credentials given to college graduates who have not met the state's
minimum requirements certainly may constitute a cause of the poor education given in the public
school system. Emergency credentials prove that states do hire 'unqualified' teachers (in terms of
licensing) in certain circumstances" (Wheelan 2002). Moreover, when it comes to hiring well
qualified teachers, who gets par more doesn't mean they are necessarily the better instructor.
"Teachers at the private school I studied are paid less than at the public school. yet the private
school has better standardized test scores, which suggests the quality of teaching ability is not a
function of pay" (Wheelan 2002). The higher test scores were evident when it came to
comparing the verbal and math scores of the private and public school to California. With a score
over 1 meaning the school received higher test scores than California as a whole, the total
number of students ranking in the upper half of test scores for verbal and math received a
number higher than one. Unfortunately, the same case doesn't go for the public school students.
In fact, when compared to California, only a certain percentage of students just surpassed
California in the verbal section to receive a slightly higher number than one. This goes to show
that maybe privet is a little better than public school.
I really did like reading this article because I was able to view great statistics comparing
and contrasting private and public school. Although the article never really states which type of
schooling the author believes is a better school, one can infer from the reading that private school
is a better option.
Ogden, David & Rose, Randall A. (March 2005). "Using Giddens's Structuration Theory to
Examine the Waning Participation of African Americans in Baseball." (22 pages).
This article concentrates on explaining how African Americans began drifting away from
baseball after the thriving evolution of Negro League baseball. Moreover, the article emphasizes
how African Americans feel more comfortable and feel as if they have a belonging in the world
of basketball rather than baseball.
The Negro League was huge for African Americans with over 45,000 fans. Many
African Americans did attend the Negro League games when the sport was popular out of pride.
African Americans became so absorbed in the game that the time of church would be moved up
an hour so people would be able to watch the Monarchs or the East-West game when they were
in town. Many players of the Negro League wanted to begin to play Major League Baseball
teams. Unfortunately, instead of this happening, most of the promising players from the Negro
League began transition over to playing for the Major League teams. "But the slow yet steady
migration of Negro league stars to the major leagues diminished the vibrancy of Black baseball
and interrupted the routines of those who depended on the Negro leagues for their distinctive and
high level of play and who viewed the Negro leagues as a cultural institution separate from but
equal to the major leagues" (Ogden & Rose 2005). Once there had been players transitioning
leagues, African American children had facilitators that push them towards basketball more than
baseball.
Throughout the years, baseball became less and less popular to African Americans. "In
major league baseball, 13% of players on the opening day rosters in 2001 were African
American. That figure dropped to slightly more than 10% for the 2003 opening day rosters,
continually a downward spiral since 1975, when 27% of major league players were African
American" Ogden & Rose 2005). Around the time that baseball stopped being a major sport for
African Americans; basketball took its spot, along with facilitators to encourage young African
Americans to pursue the sport. "Phillip (1999) found structures associated with parents to being
among the facilitators. According to his research, parents feel that basketball is one of the more
important leisure activities for African Americans (Phillip, 1991)" (Ogden & Rose 2005).
Advertisements on television also helped to push African American children’s interest towards
basketball. NBA players such as Allen Iverson were being showed in Nike commercials to
consume the interest of African American's leisure time to basketball time. Stereotypes for
African Americans belonging to basketball were also being used. "Basketball is often a cheaper
and more accessible option, and thus routines and identities associated with basketball are more
easily and naturally made a part of the fabric of everyday life for African Americans" (Ogden &
Rose 2005). Basketball is now being constantly referred to as an African American sport.
I liked to read this material because I grew up loving the game of baseball. The only bad
comment I have towards this article is that sometimes it sounds somewhat racist. But that is just
me.
Salerno, R. (2004). Beyond the enlightenment lives and thoughts of social theorists(pp. IX-227).
Westport, Conn.: Praeger. (229 pages).
Roger Salerno intends for this book to be a basic introduction to social theory for the
reader. A number of different theorists are introduced in the literature where Salerno depicts
several components of the theorists consisting of their upbringing, educational background, and
theory or theories. The theorists from this book have theories from topics such as race, language,
capitalism, etc. The wide range of topics covered by the different theorists deal with three
different periods in time: the early nineteenth century, the end of the twentieth century, and the
twenty-first century. These three periods of time are significant in that they have introduced a
sample of the most important theories known to date. These theories were made in order to give
in depth descriptions on society and culture.
Roger Salerno has several different components to his book which talk about traditional,
modern, and feminist theorists. First, we have the traditional theorists. One important historical
theorist who is considered to be the founder or "Father" of sociology is Auguste Comte. Comte
gew up with a mother, father, and two siblings. He was raised in France where for most of his
childhood they were slowly regaining strength from the results of the Revolution. As a student,
Comte excelled in all academics. When it was time for college, he remained in France, but he
took a turn for the worst by becoming a rebel student where he frequently broke the rules. Due to
Comte's acts of rebellion at the college he attended, Comte was quickly kicked out. Once he was
no longer in college, Comte began working alongside Henri de Saint-Simon. Henri de SaintSimon is a main contributor towards Comte's main intellectual ideas. One of his most important
intellectual ideas is known as "the law of the three stages." This is a concept that states there are
three phases of intellectual evolution. The first stage is the simplest form of intellect known as
the magic and religion stage. According to Salerno, "Spirits are thought to be omnipresent,
giving life and meaning to all things. Eventually religions form and myths develop to establish
causes and explanations" (21). The magic and religion stage eventually progresses into the third
stage of intellect, the positivism stage, which is the most advanced stage.
Second, we have the feminist theorists. Feminist theorists are different than other
theorists in that they do not categorize their ways of thinking. However, one of the most well
known feminist theorists, Nancy Chodorow, does consider herself a humanist. Chodorow was
born in New York where she was raised by both her mother and father. Her father was a
promising profressor who focused on teaching courses in theoretical physics. Chodorow was
fortunate enough to receive two degress from two different colleges. The first degree she
received was an anthropology degree from Ratcliff College, and the second degree she received
was a sociology degree from Brandise University. Following in her father's footsteps, Nancy
Chodorow became a teacher and taught at UC Berkeley. One of her main achievements was her
published book, The Reproduction of Mothering. This is the book that helped her become well
known as a feminist pschoanalytic theorist. It is in this book that Chodorow challenges the
concept of biological determinism. Where most people see women as nurturers, Chodorow sees
this as a harmful stereotype. For instance, Salerno states, "Many feminists have argued that
women are conditioned to be mothers and are expected, from early childhood, to serve in a
caregiving capacity. Chodorow also challenges this assignment of role to women and, in fact,
sees it as socially harmful" (189). She also notes that there is more to caring for children than
being labeled as the child's mom. Being a child's mother can be known as simply nurturing the
child.
Lastly, we have the modern theorists. One modern theorist who is well known for
confronting the issue of social justice is Antonio Gramsci. Gramsci grew up with a mother,
father, and six siblings. At a young age he developed a curve in his spine that would cause him to
have a deformity in his back for the rest of his life. Despite early difficulties in life, Gramsci was
exceptional when it came to his schoolwork. His excellent educational background awarded
himself a scholarship to the University of Turin. Unfortunately, later in his life Gramsci wound
up behind bars. He was placed in prison for opposing the fascist state and capitalism. While in
prison, Gramsci came up with one of his most important theories referred to as cultural
hegemony. According to Salerno, "Gramsci uses the term hegemony to represent the dominance
of one social class and its value system over another" (103). Cultural hegemony works as a real
life experience for Gramsci because he was placed in prison by the dominant fascist social class
for opposing them. In order for the social class to remain on top, they needed to show their
dominance over Gramsci. Thus, Gramsci was sentenced to twenty years in prison.
Emirbayer, M. (2010). Durkheim's Contribution To The Sociological Analysis Of History.
Sociological Forum, 11(2), 263-284. (22 pages).
"Durkheim's Contribution to the Sociological Analysis of History" by Mustafa Emirbayer
talks about several cases of Durkheim's work with history. First, Emirbayer talks about the link
Durkheim makes between historical and sociological investigations and how they are
inseparable. Second, Emirbayer turns to Durkheim's work with French education to look for an
example of this approach. And third, Emirbayer looks at Durkheim's comparison of history and
today's concerns.
It comes to no surprise that Durkheim's knowledge helped to shape and influences the
historical research of many French and European sociologists. Throughout much of his work,
Durkheim talks about a close bond between sociological and historical investigation. Robert
Bellah argues in his paper titled "Durkheim and History" (1959) that Durkheim pushes that there
is a close relationship between sociology and history. For example, according to Emirbayer, "In
1905 he call[ed] to . . students' attention the importance of history for the understanding of
sociology of education [1956a], and in 1912 he [spoke] of the crucial importance of history for
the sociology of religion [1965]. And in his last paper, the "Introduction to Ethics" of 1917
[1917/1979b], Durkheim once again note[d] the fundamental significance of history for the
understanding of man. (Bellah, 1959:447-448)" (Emirbayer 267). Through these three concepts,
Durkheim makes it sound as if history is needed in order to understand the different sociological
concepts. However, Durkheim does mention that history is integrating into something more
sociological.. For instance, Emirbayer notes, "In a paper published in 1903, Durkheim noted
additionally that history itself was becoming increasingly sociological in its orientation
(Durkheim and Fauconnet, 1982)" (Emirbayer 267). Both of these examples show that sociology
is becoming dependent on history, and vice versa.
This paper was very interesting to read to see Durkheim's contribution to history. The
most interesting part was how Durkheim drew similarities between sociology and history.
Maclure, R., & Denov, M. (2006). “I Didn't Want to Die So I Joined Them”: Structuration and
the Process of Becoming Boy Soldiers in Sierra Leone. Terrorism and Political
Violence, 119-135. (17 pages).
The author talks about a study of interviews that were conducted. The interviewees
consisted of young men under the age of eighteen who became soldiers for the Revolutionary
United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone. RUF was a rebel movement who stood in opposition to the
current oligarchic government. The interviews conducted unveil the multistep process of how
children were transformed into child soldiers. Moreover, the article also mentions how some
child soldiers liked to throw themselves into their work because it gave them power over others.
The study is concluded by the author describing the difficulties of socializing the children back
into society once both the war and RUF ended in Sierra Leone.
The children who became soldiers of the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone
were transformed into ruthless killing machines. There were a number of steps taken to
transform the children into soldiers. One of the biggest steps in the process is the "Terror and
Desensitization" stage. During this stage, the children were programmed to accept violence as a
normal thing. For instance, Maclure and Denov state, "Yet gradually the abhorrence and fright
that boys experienced during their initial exposure to the RUF tended to diminish as the
commonplace nature of violent behaviour gradually assumed a semblance of normality" (126).
However, in order to get to the point of viewing violence as a normal thing, the child soldiers
were drugged. According to Maclure and Denov, "A critical factor contributing to the
desensitization of boy soldiers during their prolonged exposure to violent aggression was the
extensive use of hallucinatory drugs that were easily available and purchased largely from the
proceeds of RUF diamond sales" (127). This shows that the child soldiers were manipulated in
order to become killing machines.
This article helped me to see just how manipulated children can become in order to fight
in wars in other countries.
Holmes, S. (2013). Fresh fruit, broken bodies: Migrant farmworkers in the United States.
Berkeley: University of California Press (234pages).
"Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies" by Seth Holmes portrays Holmes traveling and working
with migrant farm laborers in order to tackle agricultural jobs. Since Holmes is the one working
with migrant farm laborers, he writes this book in the first person. He is an anthropologist
working in order to understand the struggles migrant farm workers undergo in order to keep their
and their family's heads above water. Holmes begins his work by performing agricultural labor in
Oaxaca, and later is asked to travel with his farm labor companions to illegally cross the border
into the United States to perform more work. Although Holmes is a legal citizen of the United
States, he agrees to travel illegally in order to experience first hand what the other migrant farm
laborers must do to find work. Throughout the book, Holmes makes it evident that the farm
laborers are constantly facing harsh conditions both on and off the job. Off the job, the laborers
are facing harsh conditions through their living arrangements. Moreover, while on the job, they
are facing harsh conditions based on the way they are being treated by those who are higher in
power.
The harsh condition the migrant farm laborer are subject to is evident in both their makeshift homes and their working conditions in the field. Throughout his experience as a farm
laborer, Seth Holmes both experiences and views first hand the terrible living conditions the
migrant farm laborers are subject to. The location in which the laborers sleep is referred to as a
labor camp. The houses at the labor camp for the laborers are called shacks because they are the
size of one and provide very little comfort. For example, "The shacks in this camp have a wood
layer under the tin roof and insulation but no heating" (49). The shacks are intended merely to
provide a place to lay one’s head, not for comfort. Many of the workers freezed at night due to
the shack providing hardly any sense of protection for warmth. The migrant farm laborers faced
harsh conditions when working out in the fields as well. The workers that Holmes worked close
with were at the lowest ranking position in field work. As a result, they were constantly subject
to maltreatment by those who were higher in rank than they were. Such harsh treatment cme
from the checker in the fields, who were slightly higher ranked than the migrant farm laborers.
The checkers would often incorrectly mark the weight of the bucket full of fruit that the farm
laborers would bring to them. For instance, Holmes notes, "On top of that, even though my
berries weighed 28 pounds, I was marked for 26" (69). The amount of pay a farm laborer would
receive depended on the weight of the buckets they would bring to the checker. Since the
checkers were indicating that the migrant farm laborers were bringing them less weight than they
truly were, the farm laborers were receiving less pay than they should have been given.
This book made it interesting to read the struggle that migrant farm laborers must go
through in order to make a living. Coming from a town that is filled with fields, it is interesting
to read what the workers must go through.
Connell, R. (2006, April). Northern Theory: The Political Geography of General Social Theory.
Theory and Society, 35(2), 237-264. (28 pages).
"Northern Theory: The Political Geography of General Social Theory" by Raewyn
Connell analyzes geopolitical position and general social theory pertaining to three books. The
three books are "Foundations of Social Theory" by James S. Coleman, "Logic of Practice" by
Pierre Bourdieu, and "Constitution of Society" by Anthony Giddens.
Coleman, Bourdieu, and Giddens are a few of the most influential theorists that have
lately been admired. Raewyn Connell chose to focus on these particular books because these are
the books that focus on the author's overall theoretical perspectives. Moreover, the three authors
are from three different countries that have had a profound effect on the history of sociology.
Coleman, Bourdieu, and Giddens's books illustrate to the reader great features of the social world
and how to understand them. Coleman's "Foundations of Social Theory" tackles a number of
sociological problems from socialization and the family to revolution. Giddens's "Constitution of
Society" details aspects of the structuration framework. Lastly, Bourdieu's "Logic of Practice"
studied Algeria's Berber-speaking farming communities in the 1950s.
Giddens's "The Constitution of Society" was published in 1984. This book emphasizes
details on different aspects of the structuration framework. According to Connell, "In the
'Constitution,' Giddens criticizes and incorporates research ranging from psychoanalytic accounts
of the development of trust to Goffman's anatomies of encounters, debates on the origins of the
state, innovative work in geography, and the empirical sociology of education, taking in Parsons,
Blau, and Foucault along the way" (244-245). In the end, Giddens will have an abstracted
account of human development. In "The Constitution of Society," Giddens has two main
theories. The first theory deals with generalizing how society is organized and functions. Connell
states, "Concepts such as 'structuration' relate to these questions, and their extreme abstraction
results from Giddens trying to give answers that will be valid for any known, or any possible,
form of human social existance" (247). The second theory deals with the history of socialization
through the time, context, type, etc. With this, Giddens develops a "three-fold scheme" to
describe three different types of society such as tribal society, class-divided society, and
capitalism. For example, Connell notes, "Tribal societies are closer to nature; they are 'cold,' i.e.,
not adapted to change; they are dominated by kinship and tradition; they are segmented; etc"
(249). These three different types of society are designed to be in order of how one progress into
the next. Thus, with the end result, we end up with a capitalist society.
This reading sparked my interest towards the general theories of three different theorists.
Coleman was slightly difficult to comprehend, and the one with the most impact towards me was
Giddens.
Borrero, M. (2001). The widening mistrust between youth and police. Families in Society,
82(4), 399-408. (10 pages).
Youth, similarly to adults, are being affected by police misconduct. Author Michael
Borrero talks in his article about how inner city youth have experienced police misconduct.
Similar to adults, Borrero explains that tension between the police and the young people of color
is on the rise. In his article, author Michael Borrero gives us examples of these tension filled
encounters between police and the inner city youth.
A survey was conducted consisting of 968 high school students on their first hand
experiences with police. According to Borrero, "Of those so reporting, 71% were stopped and of
these, 22% reported being physically abused-- shoved, slapped, searched inappropriately or
having guns put to their heads" (Borrero 400). This statistic goes to prove that adults are not the
only people who are suffering from police misconduct. Specific situations involving physical
abuse can leave kids with lasting injurious psychological and physical effects. For instance,
Borrero states, "Many more, 46% were punched, kicked, slapped, hit, thrown down, and stepped
on. Lastly, 13% resulted in injuries such as broken teeth, deep cuts requiring stitches, bruises,
split lips, black eyes, and swollen faces" (Borrero 403). When having to experience traumatic
events with police such as these, police misconduct could make children be afraid of law
enforcement for the rest of their lives rather than trusting them.
This article opened my eyes to exactly what type of abuse kids suffer from police. It is
nearly similar to the type of abuse adults face.
Hampson, S. (1999). The culture of corruption. RSA Journal, 148(5491), 18-21. Retrieved
October 3, 2014, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41378838 (4 pages).
Author Sup't Jo Hampson analyzes the ethics of law enforcement officers. Police officers
have had and still continue to have restrictions placed on their personal lives; however,
restrictions have lessened since the 1990s. Since the restrictions have lessened, officers are
treated in a special way across different professions by being given special discounts. This article
goes into detail to explain the fear law enforcement officers carry towards favors. Moreover, the
article talks about the big picture of corruption, how one can identify corruption, and two issues
involving corruption.
Law enforcement officers do not like to be involved in situations that involve favors.
According to Hampson, "The trouble with being a police officer is that unless we keep ourselves
in an almost sterile environment we can become vulnerable and open to accusations" (Hampson
19). Unfortunately, most of the time police officers are not in sterile environments. The
vulnerable situations that police officers are put in, such as receiving special discounts, could
come to haunt them in the end. For instance, Hampson states, "The trouble with offering a favour
is that once the favour is accepted then that favour can be called in at any stage" (Hampson 19).
This can happen with an officer accepts a discount on an item from a store and later pulls over
that same person for speeding. The speeder may try and ask the officer to look the other way
since he gave the officer a discount earlier. With situations such as this, officers are placed in
difficult situations. And sometimes, officers do turn their heads the other way, which results in
police misconduct.
This reading was very interesting to read about the simplest ways in which law
enforcement officers are asked to look the other way. Officers can be corrupt in the simplest of
ways.
Tyler, T., Callahan, P., &Frost, J. (2007, June). Armed, and Dangerous (?): Motivating Rule
Adherence Among Agents Of Social Control. Law & Sociology Review, 41(2), 467-492.
Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4623383 (35 pages).
Authors Tyler, Callahan, and Frost talk about people who have coercive power and a
great amount of discretion for how the power is to be used, otherwise known as law enforcement
officers. Because law enforcement officers have much control over their power, there are many
cases where officers use their power inappropriately. This article concentrates on whether law
enforcement officers personally believe that rules and policies that should be followed are right
or wrong by motivating officers to stick to the rules. These authors have found there are two
main ways to discourage misconduct. First, by using a "command-and-control model." And
second, by allowing officers to regulate themselves.
Law enforcement officers are continuously out in the field working by themselves. This
is exactly why the self-regulating approach will help bring an end to police misconduct.
According to Tyler, Callahan, and Frost, "The self-regulatory model represents an alternative
approach to encouraging rule-following, because it focuses on intrinsic motivations. It identifies
rule-following as originating within an individual's intrinsic desire to follow organizational rules,
and not with external contingencies in the environement that are linked to rule-following" (Tyler,
Callahan, Frost 463). When law enforcement officers are asked to watch and control their own
actions, they become more aware of their own actions. As a result, officers are able to control
themselves and conduct business in an appropriate and professional manner. Once officers prove
to the public that they are being professional, they will gain the trust of the public. For instance,
Tyler, Callahan, and Frost state, "If the police can draw upon community cooperation, they are
more effective in fighting crime (Sampson et al. 1997; Skogan & Frydl 2004)" (Tyler, Callahan,
Frost 461).
This reading helped me to see that there are ways that are being looked at to help reduce
law enforcement misconduct. It is great to read that the issue is trying to be resolved.
Weitzer, R., & Tuch, S. (2004). Race and Perceptions of Police Misconduct. Social
Problems, 51(3), 305-325. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/sp.2004.51.3.305 (21 pages).
Authors Ronald Weitzer and Steven Tuch jump into the issue of police misconduct. They
go about this by revealing why the public believes law enforcement officers behave
inappropriately. Three different races of people consisting of Whites, Hispanics, and African
Americans completed a survey where they speak of their own encounters with police officers.
They also viewed media of police as pertaining to four main types of police misconduct. The
four main types of police misconduct that were looked at was verbal abuse, excessive force,
unwarranted stops, and corruption. As a result of this study, we are able to see that participants
personally feel that race is a huge contributing factor towards police misconduct.
African Americans and Hispanics have faced greater hardships when it comes to
encounters with police than Whites have. Information gathered from the national survey helps
prove this to be true. According to Weitzer and Tuch, "About a third of African Americans and a
fifth of Hispanics report having been stopped by police in their city without good reason, and
nearly as many say that this has happened to someone else in their household" (Weitzer, Tuch
13). With such a high number of African Americans and Hispanics being stopped and given no
reason for being stopped, one can infer that police are abusing their power by thinking these two
races are up to no good. Moreover, when African Americans and Hispanics are being compared
to Whites, a person can see how much higher the two races are being abused by the police. For
example, Weitzer and Tuch state, " At the city level, 3 percent of whites, compared to 8 percent
of blacks and Hispanics, say they have been verbally abused by the police three or more times;
less than 1 percent of whites, compared to 3 percent of blacks and Hispanics, say that a police
officer has used excessive force against them three or more times" (Weitzer, Tuch 13). The
statistics in both categories for African Americans and Hispanics experiencing police misconduct
is nearly three times as much as Whites experience. As a result, this data helps show that race is
a factor to consider towards police misconduct.
This article helped open my eyes to see exact nationwide statistics on how racism is
perceived towards police misconduct. The article definitely interested me and grabbed my
attention.