Basketball Diaries Sociology

I chose to analyze one of my favorite movies, The Basketball Diaries. In this paper, I will be explaining the crime and deviance in the film, the social disorganization theory, and Gottfredson and Hirschi’s self-control theory. There is plenty of crime and deviance in this film including prostitution, underage drinking, drug use, robbery, and murder.

The basketball diaries is about a 13 year-old basketball star, Jim Carroll, who is raised in New York by a single-mother. Jim is raised in a neighborhood where crime and deviance is very active and lives in a lower-class home. Jim is surrounded by his best friends Pedro, Mickey, and Neutron. One of the very first scenes of the film is Jim being beaten by his teacher at school. This being one

This theory states that when there is crime in the neighborhood, more are likely to engage in crime. In this theory, crime is a result of the breaking down of societies norms (‘respect your mother’, ‘go to school’, etc.). The social disorganization theory is seen in many instances throughout the film. For example, one of the very first scenes show a woman screaming, spazzing and talking to herself. It is made obvious that this woman is either on drugs or just severely mentally ill. Jim’s mom just tells him to close the window, as if this is an everyday occurrence. This same night in the movie, the group of boys are approached by a prostitute asking for money for drugs. In the beginning of the film, it is made clear that Jim does not live in the best neighborhood, and there is plenty of crime and deviance present in the neighborhood. These two examples can show the first part of the social disorganization theory by displaying that since there was plenty of crime in Jim’s neighborhood, it was easier for him to also engage in this criminal behavior. Society norms were also broken down in this film and there are plenty of instances where the norms were broken. For example, Jim’s mom tried very hard to express her concern for Jim and his drug use when she found him very high in the bathroom. Jim said, “fuck you mom” and left the house. Jim would also occasionally skip class to drink or get high with his friends. Jim ultimately ended up resigning from