American Me
“American Me” Key Concepts: 1. Status:[page 120] a social position within a society. It can also refer to the social honor or prestige that a particular individual or group is accorded by other members of a society. This really comes into play after Santana kills the man who rapped him in Juvee. He was automatically given this power/ status to everyone that he must be respected and feared. As if he was the new big man on campus, running the show now. (A) Ascribed status: a social position that is given at birth. (Like race/ or gender) We notice this in Santana’s brother. He grew up visiting his brother in prison, his role model. Given this given status at an early age, to be like his brother [Santana] consistent with role. Although he had no obligation to continue this legend, we especially see it at the end, when he initiates on of the younger boys. [Continuing the cycle over again.] (B) Achieved status: a social position acquired through personal ability/who you know or effort. When JD first entered the Juvee, he was instantly ganged up upon, for being a white/ Mexican. But as soon as Santana told people they were “best crime partners” he was instantly accepted into the inside clicka. (C) Master status: a position that is so central to the identity of the individual that it overshadows all other status. [Choosing one identity over another.] We see this in Julie’s whole statement about Santana being two different people. As one being Santana is this innocent male, and the other is this killer drug dealer. Yet Santana keeps choosing his master status—the drug dealing life, saying if he didn’t do it someone else will. Just needing to uphold to the person prison society has created him to be. (B) Norm: [pg 65] rules/ expectations of conduct of doing something, which either prescribes a given type of behavior, or forbids it. When Julie and Santana go shoe shopping stands out here.. When, the sales man comes in to say that ‘he will be right there.’ Santana is very quick to react; almost scaring the man, but Julie reassures him that is not how you interact with people. Santana tries to adjust to this new outside norm he is being introduced to. Values: [ pg 16] culturally defined standards held by human individuals/ groups about what is desirable, proper, good or bad that serve as broad guidelines for social life. [Ideas about what is right and wrong.] Initiation rite: [Pg. 106] signifies the transition of individuals from one group to another and endures loyalty from them. We see this in the cemetery when JD and Santana are initiating mundo into the clica, by tattooing him and saying that no matter what, they have each other as brothers, “for life, man, for life.” (C) Socialization:[pg. 92] the lifelong processes through which humans develop an awareness of social norms and values, and achieve a distinct sense of self. This is one of the things that Santana lacks. Growing up in the prison, controlling the inside, and thinking that what lied before him was what he could take with him to survive on the outside. This was his reality, all he knew... [The killing, the drugs, and power in general] because he didn’t have any set family stability to structure himself with only values from the prison, which were different from what the outside norms were, making him consequently standing out. a. Resocialization: the relearning of culture norms and values by mature individuals—in a total institution. Santana, JD, and Mundo got a lot of resocialization in prison after juvee. Knowing the tricks of the trade, and values of respect and norms of power. Even though these might not have been what were considered the norm to most of society on the outside, this is all they knew, it was what created them and their image. Making it when they were released, harder socializing, to go through the resocialization process over again, but in a different form. b. Primary Socialization: [pg 98] process of acquiring the basic skills needed to function in society during childhood – usually takes place in the family. Unfortunately this never happened for Santana directly, but was interrupted before he was even born. Placed in a situation where that important primary interaction with his family, especially his father wasn’t there. And having that misconception of why his father wasn’t really accepting him…not understanding he was a product of rape. Mainly just setting up those skills after establishing the clica and spending time in juvee later on in his secondary socialization stage (prison). c. Secondary Socialization: [pg 99] socialization after childhood – takes place outside the family setting. This really comes out in Santana when he meets Julie, seeing that Santana didn’t know how to dance, drive, make love or any of the skills that most people who grew up on the outside knew how to do. (D) Presentation of self: the way a person portrays themselves to the public. [Which may be diff. then how they act at home.] We notice this come out in Little Puppet when he wants to portray himself as a “normal” person, of higher class. A “john doe”, with a family and a house, and shop at sears…. But really he’s stuck in the statistic of criminal deviance, and has no way out. (E) Deviance: [pg 145] involves breaking a norm. Behaviors that do not conform to significant norms held by most of the members of a group in society. JD points Santana’s deviance within the group, towards the end. When he says to Santana that he is showing signs of weakness….something that is frowned upon in the clicka. [breaking the norm of the brotherhood.] But what JD didn’t realize is that Santana just found his way out of the role that he was placed in as a young kid.