A lot of teen gang members are fearful of death or prison so they seek protection by joining gangs. According to CNN, a young male college student by the name of Trevante Flinrowe, was returning home from school was shot and killed due to’ gang violence’. Pertaining to the four types of social action, instrumental relates to this action. However, their choices consist of killing other rival gang members, while their satisfaction comes from gaining respect from former gang members and their need for protection. Young men such as Trevante may also be innocent bystanders, instead of gang members because when those gang shootings take place they happen at any time. Many people can be harmed or killed if they are within that “war zone”.
CNN also interviewed two gang members where they gained information about why young teens engage in such activities. According to CNN to Maurice Childress, both minors and gang members state “you can just be walking down the street and it can just be your time to go. Bullets ain’t got no name”. These statements show that teens do not feel protected in their own neighborhoods. Crimes such as gang shooting/ killing happen in impoverished neighborhoods. These teens are engaging activities they have seen such as fighting, stabbing, killing, shooting, and robbery. However, they are surrounded by role models every day to educate them or to raise them properly. Some teens do not have fathers either. According to CNN’s footage, it was stated that these shootings happened because of the weather, the amount of guns in the streets, and because the teens are dropping out of school.
Overall, this social action is crime, the cause is gang members, and the effect is the continuous occurrence of death in Chicago. Weber’s theory on social action is to see the actual cause of the situation and the reaction to the crime which is considered the effect. Out of the four types, instrumental connected well with theory of social action. Instrumental consists of making a choice based on someone’s maximum satisfaction as for the comparison of the theory the gang members make a choice of killing others because of the gain of respect from other gang members and protection of one’s self. Society has tried to find solutions to this cause but there has not been a legitimate organization or technique that has been tested to help stop the violence.
Works Cited
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2012/06/25/exp-eb-rowlands-chicago-gun-violence.cnn&iref=videosearch&video_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2Fsearch%2F%3Fquery%3Dgang%2Bviolence%2Bin%2BChicago%26primaryType%3Dmixed%26sortBy%3Drelevance%26intl%3Dfalse%26x%3D0%26y%3D0
Weber, Max, “The Nature of Social Action”, The Foundation of Social Theory p.7-32