Boys in the Hood: Theories of Deviance Many different characteristics about theories of deviance are shown in the film Boys in the Hood. The theories were: tension theory; control theory; differential association theory; Labeling theory and conflict theory. In this movie all the theories were evidently shown with the acting of all the characters Dough boy, Ricky, their mother and Tray. This film in a nutshell chronicles the experiments and problems of three young African American males growing up in South Central Los Angeles. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay At the beginning of the film, the first theory I noticed was the tension theory. The tension theory in this movie was the gap between Dough Boy's earning and achieving his goals in life. It was extremely difficult for Dough Boy to achieve his goals because, unlike his other brother Ricky, he had no support for him. Ricky had the best of the best; he had tremendous support with superior grades to achieve all the goals he tried to achieve. I observed that control theory was the next big theory in this movie. Tray, Dough Boy, and Ricky all considered this theory because they were all black kids. Tray has well-rounded parents who have gone far in life; his parents push him to follow in their footsteps so that people don't think he's just an ignorant, inelegant, unsuccessful black boy. Ricky and his mother had a close bond that was evident in the film. He knew that and he could go a little further than Dough Boy and maybe not have this control theory controlling him and aspects of his life. The third theory in this comprehensive movie about theory was the differential association theory. The children were exposed to deviant acts; when they walked down the street they saw dead bodies, unexpected scares erupting in the dead center of the city streets, crazy drugged mothers who let their child run around the street unsupervised with only a small diaper on. Trays' parents made sure he was raised to the best of their ability. They strongly encouraged him to do his best and nothing but his best, as good parents should do. He worked hard in school and worked hard to keep his job and earn money for himself. As good parents should do, they made him work for everything and didn't just hand it over to him. Then there was Ricky, the star football player, who might one day make it to the big leagues. Labeling theory is how the personal identity and behavior of individuals can be determined or influenced by the terms used to describe or classify them. This unfortunately happened in this film due to the amount of people of color. The black kids in the neighborhood were stopped for minding their own business, but the cops stopped because they were obviously up to no good because blacks were labeled as always being involved in drugs, guns, and other illegal things. The last theory that came to mind was the conflict theory. This is when you are treated differently. This conflict theory can be shown at the beginning of the movie where the dad called the police and it took the police a whole hour to show up at the scene. Please note: this is just an example. Get a customized document from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Overall, I really enjoyed this movie and it taught me a lot. Theories have been presented to me.