Keeping Our Youthfulness in No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz

The Brothers are a group of mostly black boys (with the exception of one) who so not smoke, drink regularly, and value education as they all attend high school. Though they are merely a peer group and not their own subculture as they value academics and athletics and are not as bothered by the stigma of living in the projects. Describing the differences in the Hallway Hangers and the Brothers, the MacLeod points out that the Hallway Hangers rarely have parental supervision, many have lived in public housing for several years, many have absent fathers, and the educational attainment of their families is very low. The Brothers on the other hand have more parents and siblings who graduated high school and attended at least some college, more have father figures living in the house, and their average time living in Clarendon Heights is less than the Hallway Hangers.

According to Griffiths & et. al (2015), functionalism is a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of the individuals in that

In the 1960’s the author was growing up with her mother and five other siblings, moving from place to place in search of a home where the

Functionalism is a macro system theory which sees society as a mega structure of linked social institutions such as school, family and the legal system. Each different institution is functional to ensure the whole of society is maintained. For example primary socialisation takes place within the home where children are taught basic life

Alex Kotlowitz’s There Are No Children Here is a documentary exploring life in inner-city Chicago during the late 1980’s. The book follows the lives of two African American youth, Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers, who live in Chicago’s Horner Homes over the course of two years. It tells of a lifestyle that is a reality for many Americans and forces the reader to acknowledge a broken system that so many turn a blind eye toward. Kotlowitz does not sugarcoat the struggles and hardships that the citizens of the inner-city face every single day. The Rivers’ boys, like all the children of inner-cities, experience situations and know of unimaginable horrors that rob them of their innocence and childhoods. Lafeyette and Pharoah have to face and overcome many forces that can change their lives for the worst, such as: gangs and drugs, the social system, the Chicago Housing Authority, and the battle within them to give into the worst of society. Sociological concepts, including: racism, strain theory, and social stratification can explain some of the exploitation of Lafeyette and Pharoah.

There Are No Children Here is a story of the struggles two preteen boys live with while growing up in the projects. From the first pages the scene is set amongst the all too familiar gun fire blazing through the neighborhood. This story is of eleven year old Lafeyette and nine year old Pharoah dealing with the daily fight for survival in inner-city Chicago circa 1987.

Alex Kotlowitz's book, There are No Children Here, is a story about two boys, Pharaoh

The Functionalist theory believes that society functions so that each individual plays a specific role. Their perspective of social inequality is the belief that "inequality is not only inevitable but also necessary for the smooth functioning of society."

Life in the Henry Horner Homes can be everything but present. Life in the city of Chicago can seem more like a curse than a gift. The residents of this public housing only experience brief instance of true joy before the reality that is their lives come crushing back down on them. There Are No Children Here shows first hand experience of the hardship of Americans and the wreckage, that is urban life. Throughout the story we focus on two major characters; 10 year old LaFayette, and 7 year old Pharoah, as they struggle to beat the odds against them and the struggles of growing up in one of Chicago's worst housing projects. Living in a family that is not strong financially adds to the many stressful problems that the boys must face daily. Their mother is depends solely on welfare, a father who abuses alcohol and drugs, an older sister, older brother and younger triplets. Alex Kotlowitz describes the horrendous conditions of the poorly-maintained housing project completely taken over by gangs, where murders and shootings happen daily, where you guard must always be up in order to survive. The book tracks Pharoah and LaFayette over a two year period which touches on all of the struggles they deal with in school, mourning the deaths of close friends, resisting the temptations of gangs and still find enough courage to find that quiet, inner peace, that most outside this life for granted. Alex Kotlowitz has a magnificent way of portraying “ghetto life”; those who are outside the

     Alex Kotlowitz’s book, There are No Children Here, is a story about two boys, Pharoah and Lafeyette Rivers growing in the late 1980’s in Henry Horner, a housing project in Chicago. The boys try to retain their youth while they see constant gang violence, death of close friends, their brother in jail and their dad struggling with a drug addiction.

The Functionalist Perspective in sociology states that everyone in the society holds a position and in this position their status has a set of roles or certain behaviors that are required to perform the tasks at hand (Kornblum and Julian, 2004.) The roles consist of nurses at the medical institutions, lawyer's at international firms or just a blue collar worker at any type of factory. For the most part, each status' role is involved in an institution of some kind and is needed for the economy and society to function as a whole. "The Functionalist Perspective looks at the way major social instructions like the family, military, the health-care system, and the police and courts actually operate (Kornblum and Julian, 2004, 6.)" This basically means that for these institutions that are needed to fulfill these roles and duties for the economy, the roles and behaviors of employees need to evolve as a whole so that the institution can function (Kornblum and Julian, 2004.) For example, a nurse needs to know certain things about her job like what medicine can treat a certain

In addition too, Symbolic Interactionism perspectives, there is Functionalism Perspective. The idea of the Functionalist perspective leads back to Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist whose writings form the core of the functionalist theory (McClelland, 2000). Functionalism is what happens when social structures have positive effects on the constancy of society. It is the frame work for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote harmony and stability. There are also three assumptions behind functionalism theory, Stability, Harmony, and Evolutions. Those who use social structure theory focus on studying the nature and the consequences of social structures. It also focuses on a relatively state pattern of social behavior. This gives our lives shape in

Functionalism is consensus theory in sociology. Society based on Functionalism theory was defined as a system of interconnected institutions such as family,

The story’s first paragraph starts with family existing by a man, his wife, their grandmother, and their son. They live in the suburb, in a city, in South Africa under the apartheid system. The separation between blacks and whites are huge, and every family in the suburb is secured in any possible way. No one from the outside is allowed in. Even though the husband keeps telling his wife that “these people were not allowed into the suburb except as reliable housemaids and gardeners, so there was nothing to fear” (Gordimer 12), the family keeps developing their safety equipment, in case something could happened. The irony is that the family has no idea what is happening outside the fence. They call them “these people” (Gordimer 12) as if they don’t even know that they look like. Gradually

Functionalist theory is one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology. It can be argued that the functionalist theory has made a significant contribution to the study of society. It originates from the work of Emile Durkheim who suggests that social order is possible and society remains stable due to the functioning of several institutions. Everything has a specific function in society and society will always function in harmony. The main institutions studied by functionalism are the family, the education system, religion and crime and deviance.