The University of Chicago Parenting Within The

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PARENTING WITHIN THE HYPERGHETTO CARCERAL COMPLEX: MAKING MEANING OF YOUTH BEHAVIOR THROUGH PARENTAL IDENTITY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVISION OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF COMPARATIVE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT BY JENNIFER NICOLE HALL CHICAGO, ILLINOIS AUGUST 2020 DEDICATION To my mother Diana, and her mother Julia, and her mother Thomasina... TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………...………...…...…… viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... ix 1. INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................1 The Implication of Parents in Youth Criminal /Violent Outcomes.....................................1 Englewood Neighborhood Context.....................................................................................5 Hyperghetto/Carceral Complex...........................................................................................8 Contemporary Parenting Anxieties/Expectations………………………………...……...11 Significance of Study.........................................................................................................14 Study Objectives/ Research Questions..............................................................................15 2. LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................................................17 Parenting Theory, Function, Process ................................................................................17 Parenting in Poor Racially Segregated Neighborhoods………………………………….18 The Black Family, History, Culture of Poverty.................................................................21 Conceptualizing Black Mothers: Past and Present............................................................23 Conceptualizing Black Fathers: Past and Present..............................................................26 Hyper-incarceration...........................................................................................................33 Carceral Systems and Family Life ....................................................................................40 iii Parenting Youth Involved in Criminal Behaviors.............................................................41 Coping, Phenomenology, Identity ....................................................................................45 Theoretical Framwork.......................................................................................................47 Life Course Theory...........................................................................................................48 PVEST..............................................................................................................................53 3. METHODS........................................................................................................................59 Research Design.................................................................................................................59 Subjectivity and Positionality............................................................................................60 Participant Observation......................................................................................................62 Sample Selection................................................................................................................63 Sample Size........................................................................................................................66 Semi-structured Interview .................................................................................................67 Participants.........................................................................................................................76 Data Analysis.....................................................................................................................80 4. FINDINGS.......................................................................................................................82 4.1 EXPLANATIONS OF YOUTH BEHAVIOR.....................................................................82 Agentive Youth.................................................................................................................82 Peer Influences..................................................................................................................84 Lack of Community Resources.........................................................................................84 Poverty...............................................................................................................................85 4.2 PARENTING EXPERIENCES.............................................................................................86 iv Reflections on How They Were Parented ........................................................................87 Yielding Undesirable Youth Behaviors ............................................................................88 Shared Experiences with Youth .......................................................................................89 Agentive Parenting Strategies ..........................................................................................90 4.3 PARENTING THEORY.........................................................................................................91 Good Parenting..................................................................................................................92 Bad Parenting.....................................................................................................................92 Parental Self-Assessment ..................................................................................................94 Parental Purpose ................................................................................................................95 Parenting Detached from Child Outcomes........................................................................96 4.4 CONTEXTUAL CONSIDERATIONS.................................................................................97 Unpredictable Violence ....................................................................................................98 Jail and Neighborhood Symbiosis.....................................................................................99 Coercive Carceral Power ..................................................................................................99 Carceral System and Family Relationships ....................................................................101 5. DISCUSSION..................................................................................................................103 Research Question 1........................................................................................................103 Myth of Wholly Agentive Child .....................................................................................107 Trauma Runs Throughout ...............................................................................................112 Dominant Ideology, Power, Hegemony ..........................................................................124 Research Question 2........................................................................................................126 v Respect, Honor, and Parental Authority .........................................................................132 Research Question 3........................................................................................................136 Toward a Theory of Parenting in Hyperghetto- Carceral Complex ……….............…..141 PVEST Case Study ........................................................................................................143 6. CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................154 The Scapegoating of Poor Black Parents........................................................................ 154 Implications for Practice and Policy …………………………………………..…….…159 Limitations…………………………………………………………………........……...160 7. REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………........…...162 vi LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1. Life Course Theory Application to Sample Population………………….........….… 51 TABLE 2. Participant Demographics………………………………...……………......…...……77 TABLE 3. List of Participant Mother Demographics………………………………......…...…...78 TABLE 4. List of Participant Father Demographics ……………………………...........…...…. 79 TABLE 5. Youth Offenses……………………………………………………….........……...…80 TABLE 6. Open Coding Results. ………………………………………….........……………....81 TABLE 7. Final Data Analysis Codes ………………………………………......….………..….81 TABLE 8. Englewood Parent Prioritized Parental Duties ………………………........………. 142 TABLE 9. Summary of Research Question Findings .......…………………...…………….…. 153 vii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1. Four Peculiar Institutions...........................................................................................35 FIGURE 2. Life Course Theory Key Themes and Concepts……………………………........….50 FIGURE 3. PVEST Model of Psychsocial Development…………….………………........…….55 FIGURE 4. PVEST Spiraling Interactive Systemic

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