Code of the Street

In this chapter, Anderson shifts the focus to what he calls the “mating game” in the inner city. The mating rituals and expectations outlined in the chapter are contextualized by a profound lack of sustainable employment opportunities. Isolated from family-sustaining models, young people turn to other forms of connection. Many young men in particular “form strong attachments to peer groups that emphasize sexual prowess as proof of manhood, with babies as evidence” (147). Teenage pregnancy becomes a natural byproduct of this reality. This further complicates family dynamics by overburdening families with additional financial responsibilities without the economic or emotional stability needed to sustain a life with children. According to Anderson, the “basic factors at work here are youth, ignorance, the culture’s receptiveness to babies, and the young man’s attempt to prove his manhood through sexual conquests that often result in pregnancy” (175). As a result, the practical outcome of the “mating game” is the perpetuation of urban poverty.

Thematically, the most evident idea throughout this chapter is The Complexity of Families, particularly in terms of how families are formed or expanded in the inner city. As teenage girls become pregnant, the young men who father their children are often unequipped or unwilling to play a central role in raising the children.