Free Letters to a Young Progressive: How to Avoid Wasting Your Life Protesting Things You Don't Understand by Mike S. Adams

vehicle theft in the hood. And don’t forget about the liquor store on the corner. That is where the crime profits are often spent. But the money doesn’t stay in the hood because the liquor store’s owner usually isn’t black.
    Another major theory on prominent display in the movie is commonly known as “labeling theory.” In recent years, it has become very popular in advancing liberal educational policy. But its origins are in criminology. The basic idea behind the theory is rather simple: if you label a person as “delinquent” or “criminal” then you markedly increase his chances of actually becoming delinquent or criminal.
    If you think about your experiences growing up, you may conclude labeling theory has some validity. And if you just think back to the psychology class you had last semester, it may remind you of the concept of the “self-fulfilling prophecy.”
    When someone gets into trouble with the law once, he is likely to fall under greater scrutiny in the future. That means he is more likely to get caught the next time he does something wrong. Eventually, people stop just labeling the repeat offender’s behavior as bad and start to refer to the offender himself as bad—or criminal, or delinquent, or any of a number of negative labels. This eventually damages his self-esteem and creates the conditions necessary for the self-fulfilling prophecy.
    The best example of labeling theory in Boyz N the Hood is the contrasting ways maternal half-brothers Ricky and Doughboy are raised. The boys have different fathers but are raised by the same mother, who obviously had a better relationship with Ricky’s father than she did with Doughboy’s father. The mother clearly considers Doughboy doomed to failure because he inherited the genes of a man whom she despises. What she fails to see is that it is her different treatment of the two boys that causes their behavior to move in different directions. The movie tries to illustrate that environmental factor, and it actually does a good job of it.
    In the film, Doughboy reacts to the harsh treatment from his mother with rebellion. He is also keenly aware that his mother favors his half-brother Ricky. Whenever something goes wrong, Doughboy is presumed guilty until proven innocent. He is simply never rewarded for doing anything positive. He is also punished for wrongdoing-regardless of whether it was his fault. He has low self-esteem and no incentive to conform, and his life holds little promise.
    The final progressive theory of crime advanced in Boyz N the Hood is “differential association theory,” according to which we are all surrounded by both pro-criminal and pro-conformist influences in our lives. When pro-criminal influences outweigh pro-conformist influences, criminality is the likely result.
    Differential association theory recognizes that relationships are an important influence on our lives—especially when it comes to the propensity to commit crime. But our relationships are varied and complex. Differential association theorists talk about four distinct ways those relationships vary in terms of their influence on our criminal tendencies:
    1. Frequency Put simply, the more often we spend time with people, the more likely they are to influence our behavior.
    2. Duration. The longer we know people, the more likely they are to influence our behavior.
    3. Priority Relationships established early in life tend to have greater influence on us than those established later in life.
    4. Intensity Relationships that have greater emotional intensity tend to carry more weight with people and, therefore, exert a greater influence on their behavior.
    Differential association theory in criminology is quite similar to social learning theory in psychology. The social learning theorist would agree that one who is exposed to more pro-delinquent influences than anti-delinquent influences would be more likely to engage in criminal activity. The social learning theorist