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The Codes of the Street in Risky Neighborhoods

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Youth Violence in Germany, Pakistan, and South Africa

  • Includes a cross-cultural comparison ?of youth violence in non-Western context

  • Presents empirical data on norms and attitudes related to violence

  • Provides a research framework for understanding the sociocultural contexts of violence

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Table of contents (11 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
  2. Introduction

    • Wilhelm Heitmeyer, Sebastian Kurtenbach
    Pages 1-5Open Access
  3. Risky Neighborhoods as Specific Type of Social Space

    • Sebastian Kurtenbach
    Pages 7-19Open Access
  4. Violence-Related Norms and the “Code of the Street”

    • Sebastian Kurtenbach, Abdul Rauf
    Pages 21-38Open Access
  5. Comparing Violence-Related Norms

    • Simon Howell, Steffen Zdun
    Pages 39-59Open Access
  6. Research Design

    • Sebastian Kurtenbach, Muhammad Zaman
    Pages 61-69Open Access
  7. Description of the German Context

    • Sebastian Kurtenbach
    Pages 71-79Open Access
  8. Description of the Pakistani Context

    • Muhammad Zaman
    Pages 81-91Open Access
  9. Description of the South African Context

    • Simon Howell
    Pages 93-106Open Access
  10. Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Code of the Street

    • Simon Howell, Sebastian Kurtenbach, Abdul Rauf, Muhammad Zaman, Steffen Zdun
    Pages 107-158Open Access
  11. Spotlight on Street Violence in a Cross-Cultural Comparison

    • Simon Howell, Abdul Rauf, Muhammad Zaman, Steffen Zdun
    Pages 159-178Open Access
  12. Conclusion: The Need to Develop the Code of the Street into a General Approach

    • Wilhelm Heitmeyer, Sebastian Kurtenbach, Steffen Zdun
    Pages 179-189Open Access
  13. Back Matter

    Pages 191-192

About this book

This book presents a comparative look at the norms and attitudes related to youth violence. It aims to present a perspective outside of the typical Western context, through case studies comparing a developed / Western democracy (Germany), a country with a history of institutionalized violence (South Africa), and an emerging democracy that has experienced heavy terrorism (Pakistan). Building on earlier works, the research presented in this innovative volume provides new insights into the sociocultural context for shaping both young people's tolerance of and involvement in violence, depending on their environment.

 This volume covers:

  • Research on interpersonal violence.
  • Thorough review of the contribution of research on gangs, violence, neighborhoods and community.
  • Analyses on violence-related norms of male juveniles (ages 16-21 years old) living in high-risk urban neighborhoods.
  • Intense discussion of the concept of street code and its use.
  • Application of street code concept to contexts outside the US.
  • An integrating chapter focused on where the street code exists, and how it is modified or interpreted by young men.

With a foreword by Jeffrey Ian Ross, this book aims to provide a broader context for research. It does so via a rigorous comparative methodology, presenting a framework that may be applied to future studies. This open access book will be of interest to researchers in criminology and criminal justice, as well as related fields such as sociology, demography, psychology, and public health.  


Authors and Affiliations

  • Institute of Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

    Wilhelm Heitmeyer, Abdul Rauf, Steffen Zdun

  • Institute of Criminology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Simon Howell

  • Department of Social Work, University of Applied Sciences Münster, Münster, Germany

    Sebastian Kurtenbach

  • Department of Sociology, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Muhammad Zaman

About the authors







Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Heitmeyer, born 1945, was founder and director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence at Bielefeld University in Germany from 1996 till 2013. Since 2013, he is working as senior research professor. From 2008 to 2014, he was editor-in-chief of the International Journal on Conflict and Violence Research and editor of several book series. His main research interests are: social disintegration, violence, right-wing extremism and ethnic-cultural conflicts.

 
Dr. Simon Howell, born 1984, is a research fellow in the Global Risk Governance program and Centre of Criminology, University of Cape Town. He has published a number of academic articles, book chapters and reports, teaches a number of postgraduate courses, and comments regularly on select topics in the national press. His core research interest focused on the relationship between justice and violence, and how this relationship is made manifests both in the structures of modern governance and in the architecture of marginalized peoples’ identities.
 
Dr. Sebastian Kurtenbach, born 1987, became interim professor for social policy at the University of Applied Sciences Münster in 2018, and was senior researcher at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence at Bielefeld University in Germany from 2016 to 2018. His research interests are urban sociology, conflict studies and migration.
 
Abdul Rauf, M.A, born 1988, works as a research associate at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence (IKG) at Bielefeld University. Previously, he was part of the interdisciplinary research team at the Institute of Social and Cultural Studies at University of the Punjab in Pakistan. His research interests are urban sociology, youth studies, migration, boundary-making and group relation.
 
Dr. Muhammad Zaman, born 1981, established the Department of Sociology, Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad in 2014 and was the Chair from 2014 to 2017. He is also a researcher at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence at Bielefeld University since 2016 on the project “Violence related norms, attitudes and beliefs of young men in high-risk urban neighborhoods.” His main interests are youth violence and politics, childhood, marriage and family. 
 
Dr. Steffen Zdun, born 1975, is a research associate at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence at Bielefeld University in Germany since 2006. He is also a lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration and Management of North Rhine-Westphalia. His main research interests are: juvenile delinquency, street culture, desistance, and inter-ethnic relations.



Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Codes of the Street in Risky Neighborhoods

  • Book Subtitle: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Youth Violence in Germany, Pakistan, and South Africa

  • Authors: Wilhelm Heitmeyer, Simon Howell, Sebastian Kurtenbach, Abdul Rauf, Muhammad Zaman, Steffen Zdun

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16287-0

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Law and Criminology, Law and Criminology (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019

  • License: CC BY

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-16286-3Published: 11 June 2019

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-16289-4Published: 14 August 2020

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-16287-0Published: 28 May 2019

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XII, 192

  • Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Violence and Crime

Buy it now

Buying options

Softcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access