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The film "Boys in the Hood" depicts life in the impoverished neighborhood of Crenshaw in Los Angeles, focusing on issues such as gang violence, substance abuse, poverty, cultural deviance, and crime. African American communities are disproportionately affected by these problems due to social inequality and lack of resources. Applying sociological theories such as social interaction theory and conflict theory can help understand and address these issues. Poverty in these communities leads to a range of crimes, and it also negatively impacts mental health. The film highlights the importance of addressing these issues to create safer communities. The author believes that using sociological theories can help combat social issues and assumptions, and research on gang violence and poverty should be conducted using theories like symbolic interaction theory. The film can have a positive impact by influencing young men to avoid a life of crime and choose a better path. The film I have chosen to examine is Boys in the Hood. This film is what life is like living in the hood. This film took place in the hood in Los Angeles. Living in this environment, especially from childhood through teenage years is no good for any child. Trey is the son of Reva and Jason's previous spouse, the two were divorced. Trey was forced by his mother to live with his father in Los Angeles. This is where Trey met Ricky and their boy, which became his best friends. Life was rough in the hood. The boys saw job buys, murders, gang violence, drug deals, and many other crimes. Doughboy and Ricky came from a tough childhood while Trey had a supporting father. He always tried to teach him right from wrong. In the film, Boys in the Hood, there are many sociological issues that are shown throughout the movie. Some of the sociological issues that are manifested in the film are gang violence, substance abuse, poverty, cultural deviance, and crime. All of these issues fed off one another. When you have a community that is known for gangs, all these other issues are present because of the gang and the gang activity. Sadly, it's never a good ending for those people who live within the community. Two questions I'm interested in examining in my project are how can infective policy affect communities and why are gangs more commonly in African American communities? According to Jonathan Turner, sociological theory allows us to see how the world operates. Turner, 2013. Applying sociological theory to issues that arise within our communities help us find ways to battle those issues and find solutions to them. In Boys in the Hood, many sociological issues are present within the community. Addressing these issues can improve the community. My personal assumption about the film, Boys in the Hood, is as awesome as it may be, the movie gives the audience a personal look on how life is like living in the Hood. In areas such as Los Angeles, where strife is bad and life is rough. In a community that suffers from poverty, poverty, race, gangs, substance abuse, capitalism, and crime are social issues that are present within the creme shell community. All of these issues combined together is never a good cocktail, especially for the people who live within the community. It's not only dangerous for the adults that live within the community, but also the children, especially as they grow older and make friends within the community. Growing up in a community where gang violence is present puts children at risk for becoming gang members. In communities such as creme shell, gang life has been on the way of life. If you become a part of the gang, that gang and those members become your family. It gives these people a sense of belonging to a group. The social issue that is present in the film, Boys in the Hood, is poverty. Poverty is when an individual or family does not make enough money to cover the basic needs, such as food, housing, clothing, and other necessities. Poverty is present in every culture in the world, but the poverty rate of African American children is around 42%, which is a bit higher than most cultures. Patterson, EPA, EPA, 2018. Poverty has a rippling effect on people who live in poverty. It not only affects the person's physical health, but also their mental health also. The social phenomenon that is influenced in poverty is social inequality. The reason that poverty is so high among African American communities is because they are not given the same resources and opportunities that other Americans are given. The reason being is because of their skin color. A few examples of how social inequality influences poverty in African American communities are housing, education, and employment. Believe it or not, studies have found that African Americans have been turned down when they apply for housing loans. African Americans do not get the same educational resources that other cultures do in America. There have been instances where they have been turned down for educational loans or even denied acceptance to a college because of social inequality. Another reason for poverty in African American communities is unemployment opportunities. An appropriate theological perspective to explain the relationship between social inequality and poverty is the social interaction theory. This is the most inappropriate theological theory to explain the relationship because the social interaction theory paints a picture of how social inequality leads to poverty in African American communities. African Americans are victims of social inequality every single day. The consequences are devastating to these individuals. It causes them to live in poverty. They are not given the same resources and opportunities as the white American communities or living in poverty cause other social issues to arise within these communities. When African Americans are denied the same resources as other cultures, that leads to a range of crimes such as gang violence, substance abuse, cultural diversity, and a broad range of crimes. These crimes can be anywhere from robbery to murder. Applying the social interaction theory allows us to see how the effects of poverty can have negative effects on the community and the people who live within it. An appropriate classical sociological theory to examine the relationship between social inequality and poverty is conflict theory. Throughout the Navy Blues and the Hood, there is a lot of conflict that is present throughout the whole film. Poverty in African American communities is caused by social inequality by elected officials. In a community where poverty is present, which means economic survival is not available to the people who live within the community, causes more crime and violence to take place. When resources such as employment and education is not available to the people that live within the community, people turn to committing crimes, whether it be selling drugs or robbing businesses, which in return causes businesses and economical development companies to open their business elsewhere. It makes it hard to find a decent paying job within these communities. The first article I have located is called Polytherapy with African American Children Exposed to Adverse Childhood Experiences by Warren Patterson, Diane Sutki, and Brenda Dorsey. They use the social interaction theory when analyzing poverty in African American children. The article focuses on how poverty has negative effects on children that grow up in communities that suffer with poverty. According to the article, African American children are at higher risk for suffering with mental health issues and it increases the risk for learning, internationalizing, and externalizing behaviors. Patterson, E.T.A.L. 2018. The reason these children are at higher risk for showing some of these behaviors and actions is because growing up in an environment filled with violence and gang activity. The second article I have located is titled School Violence, Aggression, and the Influence of Hope on Low Income African American Youth. This article uses the functionalism theory when analyzing poverty in African American communities. This article discusses how poverty affects our young teens and discusses the crimes that they may have become victims of, such as sexual assault, bullying, or violence. The authors of this article have found a way to help African American teens that are living in low income communities. This article focuses on the issues that young African Americans better be a victim of and how it affects their mental health. We have created a group to help these children have a better mindset in hopes of choosing a different lifestyle than what they grew up in. This program I have implemented is called HOPE. It's a program that focuses on goal setting. Sandero, E.T.A.L. 2010. When a person sets goals for themselves, it has a positive effect on the individual's life. If I had to choose two theories to examine in this film, it would most definitely be conflict theory and social interaction theory. The film paints a perfect picture of how life is like living in places such as Los Angeles where poverty gains and crime is present. Conflict theory allows us to see how poverty and other social issues feed off one another. When you have a community such as Crenshaw where crime, drugs, gangs, poverty, and capitalism are present, the outcome is never good as shown in the film. The film portrays how a community can consume the ones who live within it, especially where violence is present. Seeing how these communities are affected by poverty could result in taking the right steps in helping these communities, such as the one in the film shown, grow. I believe the key to making changes in a community is addressing all the problems that are present within it. It's not something that can happen overnight, but addressing one problem after another can help make communities such as Crenshaw a safe community for families. The film, Bruce in the Hood, is a social issue that is present within the community at Crenshaw of poverty and gang violence. The creator of the movie shows the audience real life situations and experiences that people that live within the community may encounter. I've traveled to many different places in the United States and I've went through communities that have the same social issues that are present in Bruce in the Hood. Detroit, Michigan, and Columbus, Ohio are two places I have visited that put me in mind of Crenshaw. Driving through these communities reminds me so much of what was seen in the movie Bruce in the Hood. Driving through, you can tell that the community suffers poverty. Sitting around the street on homeless people and gang members. All the people they see sitting around the street either have a very sad look or a very mad look. I would most certainly use the theories I used to examine Bruce in the Hood as I would in real life. As I stated earlier, this film gives the audience a firsthand look at what life is like living in a community that suffers with poverty and gang violence. Applying these theories can help communities such as Crenshaw address the issues that are present. Using the sociological issues can help society limit their assumptions and biases when examining real life social issues. For example, if you're researching gang violence in a community, using the social interaction theory allows you to examine the environment and how the people in the community interact with each other. By focusing on how the people in the community interact with others in the community can help researchers come up with things that might help people in the community stay busy and not engage in violence. These things could be jobs, community centers, playgrounds, or things that can help the community to come together and enjoy as a whole. As you've seen in the film Crenshaw, in the film Crenshaw and many other African American communities do not have places where the community kids can go and enjoy themselves. Which in return leads to them getting in trouble and engaging in gang violence. The sociological theories that have the potential to improve my research interests are conflict theory and symbolic interaction theory. In the movie Blues in the Hood, there is a constant conflict present within the film. The film shows how living in poverty can be the root cause of development of gangs within the community. When there are gangs present, there are drugs, substance abuse, violence, and crime also happening within the community. The film maybe shows the very innocent children that grow up in the community, most likely fathers, of becoming a gang member and participate in an issue such as that boy did. Symbolic interaction is another theory that has the potential to improve my research interests as well. This movie focuses on life in the hood and gang violence. Something that I would like to further research is why gang violence is more commonly present in African American communities. Applying this theory, I have found that social interactions can cause these gangs to form and why gang violence is present within African American communities. Having a sense of belonging to a family or brotherhood gives the individual feeling of becoming part of a family, something that I never had. Applying these sociological theories has given me a sense of how I can apply these theories to my future career goals and research interests. My future career is working with people who struggle with addiction. One of the causes of addiction is poverty. Living in poverty lowers an individual's self-esteem. They may not feel worthy or they may not be able to deal with the stress of daily life causing them to mend their feelings with drugs and alcohol. Using conflict theory and social interaction theory allows us to analyze the social issues that are present within the film and the communities that suffer with poverty and how these issues manifest with one another. Addressing these issues can help find solutions to combat drug addiction and help the people who struggle with addiction find the right resources to overcome their addiction. In conclusion, the theory that I align myself and my social issue that I observed in the film is social interaction theory. I believe humans learn their behaviors and actions through environment and through social work. From young infants into late adulthood, we learn new things every day by observing others and interacting with others. The social stereotype that is present in the film is in the head, the stereotypes of the African American man. The stereotypes that are present are aggression, violence, criminal activity, absent fathers, and showing no emotion. In the film, Trey is the only young man that has a father figure in his life. Throughout the film, Mr. Stiles instills in his son how to grow up and be a respectful man. At times in the movie, Mr. Stiles showed Trey tough love that he did that because he wanted Trey to know that he was making bad decisions and he only wanted right for him. I know you feel bad for the example of how you should not judge a person by their skin color. Not every African American man are unemployed living the right life. There are many out here that provide for their families and raise their children to be respectful individuals. I personally feel that this film can have a positive impact on society. Watching this film can have a positive impact on young American men. Seeing what life is like when you dream and dream and choose bad decisions can make others choose different lifestyles than what was shown in the film. Living a life that consists of gang violence, committing crimes, and drugs only leads to two places, the grave or jail. Influencing teens to choose the right path can not only help them as an individual but also help our society and communities.