Youth culture of hostility: Discourses of money, respect, and difference

This paper describes the youth culture of hostility produced by low-income and working-class African-American and White students in two urban public high schools. High school seniors were observed during the school day and participated in interviews where they described criminal activities, racism, sexual harassment, and other student hostilities taking place in corridors and classrooms. Poststructural data analysis revealed that what appeared to be senseless acts of violence were shifting adaptations rooted in prevailing discourses of money, respect, and difference. Hostilities were among the many discourse-driven adaptive strategies constructed by urban youths in school sites situated in hostile socioeconomic conditions.