
Code of the Street
Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City
Elijah Anderson(Author)
WW Norton & Co (Publisher)
Will be published approx. on 11. August 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
400 pages
978-1-324-10602-9 (ISBN)
Description
Inner-city black America is often stereotyped as a place of random violence, but in fact, violence in the inner city is regulated through an informal but well-known code of the street. This unwritten set of rules-based largely on an individual's ability to command respect-is a powerful and pervasive form of etiquette, governing the way in which people learn to negotiate public spaces. Elijah Anderson's incisive book delineates the code and examines it as a response to the lack of jobs that pay a living wage, to the stigma of race, to rampant drug use, to alienation and lack of hope.
Reviews / Votes
"One of our best ethnographers.... Anderson is excellent in explaining how the criminal element, through a numerical minority, comes to dominate public space." -- The New York Times Book Review "Important.... [Anderson] demonstrates, time and again, how optimism, ambition and decency can sprout in the most unlikely places, given even the slimmest chance." -- NewsweekMore details
Edition
25th Anniversary Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Dimensions
Height: 210 mm
Width: 140 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-324-10602-9 (9781324106029)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Previous edition

Book
09/2000
WW Norton & Co
€19.00
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Elijah Anderson is the Sterling Professor of Sociology and of Black Studies at Yale University. In recognition of his pioneering research, he was awarded the prestigious Stockholm Prize in the field of Criminology in 2021 and the American Society of Criminology's Edwin H. Sutherland Award in 2025.