The argument that the problems that the black community experiences are a result of deficiencies of “black culture” is one that has been prominent throughout decades of sociological research on racial inequality. Prominent sociologists like William Julius Wilson and, perhaps most notably, Daniel Patrick Moynihan have embraced this theory, arguing that persistent racial inequality is a result of the breakdown of the black family and a “tangle of pathology.” These arguments are individualistic, focusing on personal responsibility and putting some of the blame for black poverty on blacks themselves. However, it is important to remember the role that structural forces play in not only racial inequality but also the “tangle of pathology” that Moynihan references.

The decision that many black youth in urban ghettos and even the middle-class neighborhoods that Mary Pattillo describes in Black Picket Fences to sell drugs or join gangs can be seen as an effort to gain the respect of others. Other pathways to “respect” as it would be earned in white communities—like doing well in school or getting a high-paying job—weren’t available to them because of the spatial mismatch of jobs and under-resourced schools. Thus, because of structural forces affecting their communities, the ways in which black teenagers attempted to gain esteem among their peers differed from those of white teenagers. As Jamelle Bouie wrote in the article about DeSean Jackson and black social mobility, “Youthful experimentation for a white teenager in a suburb might be smoking a joint in a friend’s attic. Youthful experimentation for a black teenager might be hanging out with gang members.” This is not because “black culture” values different things than “white culture,” but because of the differing context of white and black neighborhoods—i.e., structural forces.