Reading Guide for Black Picket Fences, pp 68-116

• What are the major assumptions of social organization theory?  How might social organization theory explain why Groveland is home to one of the top gang leaders and drug dealers in Chicago and, at the same time, considered to be a “quiet neighborhood.” 

• Discuss the relationship between residential stability (or instability) and social networks.

• Explain the relationships between the Black Mobsters, the residents of Groveland, and the community’s social institutions and community meeting and gathering sites.  In what ways might the presence of the Black Mobsters contribute to neighborhood stability in Groveland?  How about instability?

• What are the cultural, social, and financial tensions faced by Groveland youth at the crossroads of “Street” and “Decent”?  In what ways are street temptations gendered?

• What are some of the strategies employed by Groveland’s middle-class parents to steer their children away from “street life” and toward a middle-class future?