3.  What does it mean to say the HH are
communitarian?  What role does their
solidarity play in their aspirations.  What
affects does it have on their life chances?


I think to say that the HH boyz are
communitarian is to say that they belong
to their OWN community. They are a lot
like a gang in the sense that their peers
have become their family and that's
where their loyalties lie. This is bad for all
the boys individually. They're in essence,
kicking themselves in the teeth. One of
the boys wanted to be a lawyer, yet he
said that if he was going to take the bar
exam but one of the guys needed him,
he'd go with his buddies and pass up a
promising career. All of the boys shared
this thought. One of them commented
that if they couldn't make it as a group,
they didn't want to make it. They all
wanted to stick together no matter what.

Their life chances went way down the
tubes because of this solidarity mentality.
When asked which area of schooling
they'd like to go into when starting at
Lincoln High School, they all chose the
same program even if it wasn't what they
personally wanted to do. It's what all their
friends were doing. Talk about jumping
on the band wagon. Then, when the
individuals decided they didn't like that
program, they would just as soon stop
going to school altogether instead of
getting into a program that they would do
well in. Also, they didn't want to do things
that would bring scorn from the other
boys. Stoney wanted to own a pizza place,
and all the guys thought that was quite a
knee slapper. They tended to cut
themselves short for the sake of the
group.