African American Decision Making: Choice versus Constraint At the age of thirteen, Jonathan (a pseudonym) knew all the names and forms of weapons circulating in his neighborhood. Jonathan lives with his brothers and his mother in a poor neighborhood in a metropolitan area. Due to the lack of father's presence in his life, his uncle serves as a male role model. Often, when his uncle "goes out and steals" from nearby stores, Jonathan is often there to listen to him. Despite criminal laws and police regulations, crime rates in these poor urban neighborhoods increase, incarceration rates and death rates follow. According to Elijah Anderson (1994), an American sociologist from Yale University, the propensity for violence arises from the living situations of the urban poor; these circumstances could be lack of paid employment, racial stigma, rampant drug use and trafficking, and lack of hope for the future. Therefore, who or what is responsible for the problems displayed in these poor urban African American communities? The answer depends on the choices. The behaviors of these African Americans can be attributed to individual disposition and situational influences; thus, two theories hold the key explanation to answer the investigation into this phenomenon: respectively the rational actor theory and the structured socialization theory. The context in which poor urban African Americans must live indirectly influences their decision-making. One of the factors that determines their ability to survive is income. As the United States Census Bureau shows, the median income of African Americans is significantly lower than the median income of all races and an even higher income...... middle of article.... ..w Guidelines for child and adolescent development, 143, 11-31. Scott, John F. (2000), “Rational Choice Theory,” in Understanding Contemporary Society: Theories of the Present, Abigail Halcli, Gary Browning, and Frank Webster, eds. London: Sage Publications, 126-38. Unknown, “Criminal Justice Fact Sheet.” NAACP. NAACP, and Web. April 18, 2014..Farrington, D. (2007), “Origins of Violent Behavior over the Life Span”, in D. Flannery, A.Vazsonyi and I. Weldman, eds, The Cambridge Handbook of Violent Behavior and Aggression, 19 – 48. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/cosby.asp https://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p60-245.pdf http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08 /29/1234787/-Why-Barack-Obama-publicly-scolds-black-Americans-again-during-his-march-on-Washington-speech