I thought 'Gangs, Greeks, and the Double Standard' was super interesting! This podcast made me think about how similar gangs are to greek organizations, especially when it comes to their initiation practices and use of violence to establish group solidarity. I think the fact that I had never made this connection before illustrates this podcast's point that media framing can influence the way groups/organizations are perceived by society. #so339

A common theme between the conclusion and Rios' TED talk was letting go of this idea that marginalized youth are 'blank slates' on which non-marginalized individuals must impart their knowledge and instead recognizing the behaviors and ideologies of these youth as valid, informed responses to their social environment. In other words, we should be legitimizing/prioritizing the perspectives of these youth rather than dismissing them as ignorant and excluding them from solution-building #so345

Rios's concept of social incapacitation reminded me that dehumanization isn't just the explicit labeling of someone as subhuman, it is all the little ways a society is structured to exclude and demoralize a certain group. Not investing resources in a community, allowing the police to brutalize them, and criminalizing their very culture all work to promote the message 'these people don't matter,' even if the ones implementing these practices don't say it explicitly. #so345

In Chapter 7, Rios noted that the non-delinquent boys were forced to isolate themselves from their peers in order to be perceived as 'good kids' by school and the police. This social isolation in order to avoid criminalization reminded me of the Becoming Copwise article by Stuart, in which he discusses how the residents of Skid Row often socially isolate themselves from their community in order to avoid police detainment #so345

Something that stuck out to me in Chapter 7 was the fact that the non-delinquent boys' attempts to maintain their freedom by sacrificing their dignity (acting lawfully) was often just as futile as the delinquent boys' attempts to maintain their dignity by sacrificing their freedom (acting hyphy). Despite their efforts, both approaches still frequently led to criminalization and punishment from schools and the criminal justice system. #so345

This article reminded me that the 'democratic' nature of social media compared to traditional newsmedia comes with both pros and cons. While social media weakens the complete control traditional media, and thus the ruling elite, had over public opinion, it also potentially encourages polarization as everyone is allowed to provide their own perspective on issues without concern for neutrality or 'looking at both sides.' #so339

The disconnect between the traditional ideal of 'hardworking' masculinity and the lack of legitimate economic opportunities due to poverty & deindustrialization reminded me a lot of Strain theory. This theory claims that when a society's cultural goals (in this case being a 'real man') are unattainable through the socially approved methods (getting a job/being hardworking) people will turn to alternative/deviant ways of achieving the goal (in this case hypermasculinity and violence). #so345

I found it interesting how the police and the criminal justice system as a whole tried to instill this idea of hardworking/law-abiding masculinity in the boys but used harsh hypermasculinity to do so. It is no surprise that the boys internalized this hypermasculinity instead when the agents of social control in their lives condoned it as an acceptable way to enforce justice/get respect. #so345

Considering what we know about the performative nature of social media from Lane et al. and Stuart, I wonder if social media content should be seen as a form of 'art' instead of an accurate depiction of reality. Song lyrics are one example of media that is considered 'art' and thus not typically admissible as evidence of a crime in court, why not extend this label to social media posts as well? #so339

Something that interested me about this chapter was the discussion of the structural and historical factors that shaped the nature of the boys' resistance against the system. Mass incarceration and the repression of the social movements of the 1960s-70s blocked the boys from accessing the more 'formal' avenues for expressing dissent/resisting and forced them to develop new 'informal' methods of resisting the system such as committing acts of deviance and crime. #so345