Depicting "the system": How structural racism and disenfranchisement in the United States can cause dynamics in community violence among males in urban black communities.
African American
Causal loop diagram
Civil unrest
Community violence
Structural racism
System dynamics
United States
causal loop diagram
civil unrest structural racism.
community violence
system dynamics
Journal
Social science & medicine (1982)
ISSN: 1873-5347
Titre abrégé: Soc Sci Med
Pays: England
ID NLM: 8303205
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
03 2021
03 2021
Historique:
revised:
18
10
2020
accepted:
19
10
2020
pubmed:
19
2
2021
medline:
25
5
2021
entrez:
18
2
2021
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
A complex system of factors interacting across time shapes community violence. It is not well understood how features of persons, institutions and communities interact as a "system" to produce escalating community violence. We aimed to integrate theoretical and experiential knowledge among young African-American urban males to develop a concept model of key causal structures driving dynamics of community violence escalation over time in a context of historical racism. We analyzed three published sources (two documentary films and one ethnography) containing lived experience perspectives on community violence escalation among African American males in three U.S. cities experiencing civil unrest due to structural racism. Qualitative descriptive analysis identified features in three key thematic categories: racialized policies and practices, economic and social disenfranchisement, and intrapsychic factors. We used causal loop diagramming, a system dynamics method designed for depicting dynamic hypotheses about the system structure producing observed trends over time, to represent the dynamic relationships among identified individual and community variables. The concept model contained key feedback structures capable of generating exponential growth in violence - providing detailed dynamic hypotheses about how violence can beget more violence ("violence escalation") within a community. Referred to as reinforcing feedback loops, these dynamics involved development of kill-or-be-killed norms, civil unrest emerging from racially oppressive policies, internalizing the code of the streets to seek outward displays of power, and processes that get one "stuck" or not able to break out of the system of violence. Qualitative system dynamics methods offered an approach to uncover and hypothesize the complex, dynamic relationships between variables shaping violence escalation trends. The resulting causal loop diagram hypothesized dynamic mechanisms capable of creating and perpetuating racial disparities in community violence escalation, that can be tested in future research to inform action to break observed cycles of community violence.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
A complex system of factors interacting across time shapes community violence. It is not well understood how features of persons, institutions and communities interact as a "system" to produce escalating community violence. We aimed to integrate theoretical and experiential knowledge among young African-American urban males to develop a concept model of key causal structures driving dynamics of community violence escalation over time in a context of historical racism.
METHODS
We analyzed three published sources (two documentary films and one ethnography) containing lived experience perspectives on community violence escalation among African American males in three U.S. cities experiencing civil unrest due to structural racism. Qualitative descriptive analysis identified features in three key thematic categories: racialized policies and practices, economic and social disenfranchisement, and intrapsychic factors. We used causal loop diagramming, a system dynamics method designed for depicting dynamic hypotheses about the system structure producing observed trends over time, to represent the dynamic relationships among identified individual and community variables.
RESULTS
The concept model contained key feedback structures capable of generating exponential growth in violence - providing detailed dynamic hypotheses about how violence can beget more violence ("violence escalation") within a community. Referred to as reinforcing feedback loops, these dynamics involved development of kill-or-be-killed norms, civil unrest emerging from racially oppressive policies, internalizing the code of the streets to seek outward displays of power, and processes that get one "stuck" or not able to break out of the system of violence.
CONCLUSIONS
Qualitative system dynamics methods offered an approach to uncover and hypothesize the complex, dynamic relationships between variables shaping violence escalation trends. The resulting causal loop diagram hypothesized dynamic mechanisms capable of creating and perpetuating racial disparities in community violence escalation, that can be tested in future research to inform action to break observed cycles of community violence.
Identifiants
pubmed: 33601249
pii: S0277-9536(20)30688-2
doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113469
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
113469Subventions
Organisme : NIMH NIH HHS
ID : T32 MH020061
Pays : United States
Organisme : NIGMS NIH HHS
ID : R01 GM108337
Pays : United States
Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.