Marisa Iglesias

June 4, 2014
Anthro 167
TA: Sam Weeks
Discussion 1L
Final Paper: In-depth Textual Analysis
Becoming a Cultural and Personal Bystander
Ever since the infamous Kitty Genovese case, the bystander effect has been
widely studied, contested and researched. The bystander effect is a social psychological
phenomenon where individuals do not help a victim when other people are present. In
Paul Williss Learning to Labor and Phillipe Bourgoiss The Political Economy of
Resistance and Self-Destruction in the Crack Economy, while there is no instance in
which there is a dying person in need of aid, this concept of the people around you
essentially controlling if you act or not and how you act in any given situation, is a
prevalent theme in both ethnographies. For example, there is a time in which before the
lads had formulated, not a single lad-to-be had broken free from the conformity of the
rest of the class. Even those most prone to becoming a lad leader remained silent, Even
the few who come to the school with a developed delinquent eye for the social landscape
behave in a conformist way because of the lack of any visible support group (Willis 60).
So what is it that eventually brings about a visible support group? Is there an initiation
process? One brave soul who decides to put a stop to the earole conformity, becomes a
lad and then recruits others? Before the bystander effect on the lads can be considered
and discussed to full extent, the way in which one becomes a lad must be studied first. It
is interesting to learn that there is no organized method to becoming a lad, however there
is a sort of randomized pattern.

The becoming of a lad is not a systematic process, it seems to mostly happen by

coincidence or by a question of the need for friendship or even of accidental causalitysitting by so and so in class, meeting the lads at night by chance or being called for
unexpectedly (Willis 61). Essentially, there is no one instigator who breaks the earole
conformity and forms the lads. It is a slow and rather random process, taking two to four
years for the lads to find each other and then band together, I was just quiet for the first
two weeks, I just kept meself to meself like, not knowing anybody, it took me two years
to get in with a few mates. But, er after that, the third year was a right f*cking year,
fights, having to go to teachers a lot (60). Initially they are all quiet and well behaved,
hesitant to create ruckus since they see no one else doing so- a sort of twisted parallel to
the bystander effect where they remain silent and obedient with the rest of the class,
despite wanting to go against the earole custom. Because of this fear to act without a
leader mentality, they all start out as earoles, some even being top students before the
formation of the lads, Its the second year I went astray. Me and Spike first, I used to
come, I come twelfth in the first years or twelfth in the second years and then I met Bill
and all them (61). Without that visible support group the lads each act like one with
the rest of the class, studious and silent. Yet as one by one they find each other and grew
in their lad ways and rebellious antics, that support group is ever present, and so is their
troublemaking. Through a series of random encounters, which eventually formulate a
visible support group, a group of friendless and innocent schoolboys are transformed
into uncontrollable and chaotic lads who answer to no one except each other.
Similar to the slow and unplanned formation of the lads, in Philippe Bourgoiss
The Political Economy of Resistance and Self-Destruction in the Crack Economy (an

ethnography), the beginnings of Nuyorican (second- and third-generation Puerto Rican

immigrants in inner city New York [Bourgois 98]) street culture present itself in a
gradual and unintentional way to individuals. Yet also like the lads, there is a pattern
throughout most individuals who eventually ended up in street culture. Most worked one
or more legal jobs in their early youths most entered the labor market at a younger age
than the typical American. Before they were 12 years old they were bagging groceries at
the supermarket for tips (100). While there is a definite pattern, it is in no way
prearranged per individual. However unlike the lads whose change in behavior and
actions initially resulted from random encounters which led to their lad formation, the
development of the street culture seems to result from familial connections as seen with
crack dealer Chino, My mothers sister was working [in a local garment factory] first
and then her son, my cousin Hector- the one whos in jail now- was the one they hired
first, because his mother agreed: If you dont want to go to school, you gotta work. So I
started hanging out with him. I wasnt planning on working in the factory. I was supposed
to be in school; but it just sort of happened (101). Chino did not intend to drop out of
school at the young age of 14 or 15 (101), however simply hanging out with his cousin
led to his early employment in a factory and the consequent dropping out of school.
Caesar, Chinos lookout at the crack house door, has a very similar story as well, I
worked in a factory before too. That was my first job. My uncle got me the job when I
dropped out of school. My moms told me I either get a job or go back to school (101).
Where the lads have each other for their visible support group, Chino and Caesar and
other Nuyoricans in street culture have their family members who influence them to
make the decisions they make and live the life they live. In both situations, the lads and

Chino and Caesar choose the opposition of education, whether that be counter-school
culture (Willis) or street culture in the crack economy (Bourgois 99), they choose
what is expected of them, in their visible support groups, over education itself. And in
both situations it is because of the support groups that they do not pick education, the
families of these crack dealers subscribed to mainstream working class ideologies about
the dignity of engaging in hard work versus education (101). The lads and the crack
dealers make their choices based on their visible support group. Like the bystander effect,
the lads and crack dealers seem to be staying inside their visible support group and
simply doing as the others do without seeing the truth of the situation and stepping out to
save themselves.
For the lads and the crack dealers, shopfloor culture (Willis 52, see also
Bourgois 102) is nearly identical for both groups as it draws upon both counter-school
culture and street culture. In the case of the lads, The masculinity and toughness of
counter-school culture reflects one of the central locating themes of shopfloor culture - a
form of masculine chauvinism (Willis 52). The toughness required to succeed in
shopfloor culture is very similar amongst Nuyoricans as well, Factory work is inevitably
rife with confrontational hierarchies; nevertheless, on the shop-floor, surrounded by older
union workers, high school dropouts who are well-versed in the latest and toughest street
culture styles can function effectively. In the factory, being tough and violently macho
has high cultural value (Bourgois 102). Those working in the factories who are
immersed in shopfloor culture take pride in the hard work and in doing a hard job well
and being known for it (Willis 52). Shopfloor culture is macho, and the men working
take pride in that machismo just as the lads take pride in being lads and wreaking havoc,

Coming out as a lad is a personal accomplishment (60). Also like the lads, those in
the shopfloor culture seem to have disrespect and ill feeling toward authority, jokes are
vigorous, sharp, sometimes cruel, and often hinged around prime tenets of the culture
such as disruption of production or subversion of the bosss authority and status it is
also interesting that, as in the counter-school culture, many of the jokes circle around the
concept of authority itself (55). The nonconformity, disobedience and disregard of the
lads to their authority figures in school seem to carry over to a lighter degree in shopfloor
culture. There is not a strong sense of respect for authority or education amongst the lads
or workers, instead there is a feeling of superiority and pride for the hard work they do
and their practicality over intellect, The rejection of school work by the lads and the
omnipresent feeling that they know better is also paralleled by a massive feeling on the
shopfloor, and in the working class generally, that practice is more important than theory
(56). This resistance to authority is also present in street culture, a certain degree of
opposition to the foreman and the bossman is expected and is considered masculine
(Bourgois 102). The fact that opposition to authority is expected shows how there is a
visible support group that dictates how crack dealers respond to those around them. Their
peers and their families and street culture as a whole has expectations that they feel the
need to fulfill, yet by doing so they jeopardize their jobs.
This theme that is consistent in both counter-school culture and street culture is
the expectation to reject and rebel against conformity. However, by always trying to go
against authority and acting the way each visible support group expects, the lads and the
crack dealers are actually conforming within their respected groups. By constantly acting
in a way that reflects what their group expects of them, the lads and Chino and Caesar are

actually submitting themselves to the bystander effect every time they make decisions
based on those around them. Their visible support groups only truly support them when
they are doing what is expected of that group, whether it is [throwing] bricks and
scratching cars or choosing to drop out of school and work instead. By simple doing
what is expected of them, they are not breaking free from the conformity of their own
cultures and are thus another bystander in the culture that is preventing them from
reaching their potential in school, the labor force and life. They are bystanders of their
lives, watching the expectations of their cultures take control and allowing others to
influence and dictate what they do and how they do it. Through their reluctance to break
away from the counter-school culture or street culture mold, they are unknowingly
incapacitating themselves and are sadly becoming another victim of their cultural
circumstances.

Works Cited
Bourgois, Philippe. "The Political Economy of Resistance and Self
Destruction in the Crack Economy." Annals of the New York
Academy of Sciences 749.1 (1995): 97-118.
Willis, Paul E. Learning to labor: How working class kids get working
class jobs. Columbia University Press, 1977.