Man as a Social Animal

“Street Corner Society”

Submitted by:
Cayanan, Cherielyn M.
Sumayop, Rheen B.

Submitted to:
Ma’am Maryjane Regino
 Street Corner Society
W. F Whyte

ABSTRACT

It is a characteristic of human beings to live in societies. These societies are of many

different kinds, whether small social groups like a street boy’s gang or large nations like Great

Britain, but they all have something in common: each society has its own social organization and

social pattern, its own way of life which is meaningful to those people who live in it.

This point is illustrated in the two otherwise very different societies described here. One

is a street gang in an American slum, based on earlier Italian immigrants still not fully integrated

into American society. The other is a band of wandering African hunters, people with few

materials or technological resources. Yet in each case these social patterns and social system’.

The social system of each of these societies has a number of different elements. Each is

placed in a particular physical setting – the slum district of an American city, or the harsh terrain

of the Kalahari Desert. In each there are economic that must be solved. There is a political aspect

too: each group has its leader and means of making decisions and keeping conflict under control.

There are also the psychological elements; in each system here one can thus trace aspects which

have been elaborated in previous reading: the psychological, political, economic and spatial.

A further element has been less apparent in earlier readings but very marked in these two

sociological extracts. This is the importance of social relationship. Cornerville street gang rest on

a ‘system of mutual obligation’, while the bushmen value co-operation and companionship and

are sustained by a web of mutual obligation.

 INTRODUCTION

According to Whyte there are two kinds of group in a society. It’s either you being in a

small or in a big group. These social groups form little societies of their own. He said that in

each of group we can find social patterns and social relationship. Whyte said there are different

elements in this society. In each element there are economic problems that must be solved. But

the most important of a social relationship is how we will get from a web of mutual obligation.

People outside Cornerville has known that in that place there's a lot of problems. The

people outside of it thinks that it's a dangerous, mysterious, and depressing place. People inside

Cornerville are governed with a governor that makes a decision with just themselves and the

people there can't do anything about it. Compared to the other countries Cornerville is a small

part of United States. The Italians are more feared than any other people. Persons known in the

world or in that place also have a limited information’s. If you want to know what's going inside

that place you must live and experience before knowing any confidential information. In that

place people don't experience a lot of privileges because the way they run that place is not

organized. They show how the upper class and lower class being demonstrated. But who will

risk their lives just to know some information wherein you can just live in other places. As

Whyte stated that in order to have a better society they should have at least co-operation and

companionship for peace and order in that place.

 Every society has its own characteristic that shows the behavior and activities of the

people present in it. The story of W. F Whyte entitled, “Street Corner Society” illustrates the

lives of the people in Cornerville which he defined as a slum district that can be found in the

heart of the Eastern city. In this story, he described Cornerville as a dangerous and problem area

since group of gangs are present in it. He even stated that it is the home of racketeers, corrupt

politician, poor people and everything. it seems like the other people who is not living in the area

are belittling the city and the people living in there. They’re judging them without even knowing

the real situation inside the district. No one can understand what’s happening in there but the

people who actually live in that place.

Maybe the author if this story wanted to imply something significant on the readers. He

wanted his work to open, that this kind of tale is really happening in some other societies, in

some other parts of the world. Broadcasting information should be fair. We should not only take

the negative events yet also the positive ones. There may be a lot of crimes present in that area

caused by those gangsters but it doesn’t mean that we should disregard the good ones happening.

I find this story a very interesting one it captures my attention and at the same time I

learned something from it that is very beneficial to me. I’ve learned that we should always look

on both sides of the coin. Like every society in the world, we humans are all unique and at the

same have things in common. Let us learn to appreciate one another and develop good things for

us to become more progressive individual.