Socialization of adolescent boys in disadvantaged areas: violence and influence of older peers

The paper considers the theoretical views of American sociologists (W. Wilson, M. Pattillo-McCoy, D. Eder, S. Nenga, D. Harding) on the influence of neighborhood, the theory of isolation, and the theory of social organization, which explains how social organization, for example, unfavorable neighborhood, can affect behavioural patterns of different groups of young people. The research represents the data of National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS). The study is based on in-depth, unstructured interviews with 60 teenage boys and their parents in three communities of Boston, describing the role played by older peers in the social life of adolescent boys in poor areas. The methods of filed work and the structure of age-related networks are shown. Models of social organization are primarily applied to explain the differences in crime, violence, and delinquency. Besides, the authors review the impact of the social organization on the development of adolescents’ cultural patterns in the field of heterogeneous relations.