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The film "Boys in the Hood" explores gang violence and crime in a society influenced by capitalism. The characters, Trey, Ricky, and Dope Boy, face limited options due to poverty and inequality. While Dope Boy chooses a life of crime, Trey and Ricky try to pursue education but still encounter violence. Revenge and gang violence lead to tragic consequences. The functionalist perspective suggests that crime is necessary for social regulation, integration, and change. Symbolic interactionism focuses on how individuals perceive their economic world and social class. The conflict perspective sees crime as negative, particularly affecting low-income individuals. The feminist perspective highlights gender disparities in crime and punishment. The social issue I am going to focus on is gang violence and crime. Boys in the Hood is a film with many different acts of crime and gang violence, and the social phenomena influencing this issue is capitalism. Capitalism forces society into two classes, rich and poor. In Boys in the Hood, the characters live in poverty. Because of capitalism and inequality, the main characters, Trey, Ricky, and Dope Boy are left with limited options, life as a gang, and violence, or trying to lead a different life. Dope Boy chooses a life in the gang and drops out of high school and has been in prison, while Trey and Ricky have chosen to go to school, attend college, but often find themselves in violence, like when Ricky was murdered by a rival gang member while walking down an alley. Trey and Dope Boy are faced with a choice to seek revenge over Ricky's killer, and Trey was on board until last minute, but Dope Boy went through with a plan later in the film. Dope Boy was killed in a gang violence incident. The key theoretical perspective that explains the relationship between capitalism and crime is the functionalist perspective. Crime has been around for many decades and has always had a place in society. Functionalists believe that society needs crime in order to maintain a balance and prevent society from crashing. Crime promotes social regulation by setting clear boundaries of what behaviors are acceptable and what behaviors are unacceptable and what results in punishment. Crime also promotes social integration that brings the society and community together. Lastly, crime promotes social change by allowing individuals to push boundaries to find out what is socially acceptable or not. Social change happens every day and crime is evolving and legal reform is necessary. If crime keeps law enforcement jobs afloat, without crime there would be no need for police officers, prison guards, correctional officers, etc. One classical theory that relates most in this film is the functionalist theory. Within the film we see many crimes being committed like drive-bys, murders, robbery, police brutality, and many background shootings. Crime allows for individuals to set their own self-interest and not worry about others like a dog-eat-dog society. In Boys in the Hood, it's gang violence and other crimes. It is shown throughout the film that regardless of the crime being committed, everyone still just functions fine, which is the main part of the functionalist theory. Society does not fall apart when a crime happens, society just moves on. Symbolic interactionism focuses on the meaning of social interactions. Symbolic interactionists view capitalism as an understanding of how individuals view the economic world and social class. Symbolic interactionists believe that behaviors are learned through their environment. In this film we know the families are low income and you'll see in the film of the working class judge those who live in low income neighborhoods, even the police when he held a gun to Trey's throat during a traffic stop. Trey, Ricky, and Doughboy were raised in a life full of crime, drive-bys, and drugs. Doughboy kept the life of crime while Ricky and Trey tried to end the stigma surrounding low income families and do better for themselves. In the Lumen Learning article, we view crime from a conflict perspective. Unlike the functionalist perspective, the conflict perspective believes that crime is a negative factor within society. According to the conflict theory, crime is associated with low income, underprivileged individuals like those in Boys in the Hood. Sociology Club's article on the feminist perspective views women committing crimes as a way to show strength and power in how differently men and women are treated when committing the same crime and punishment and the punishment for the same crime.
