Gender, Race, and Homicide, Essay Example

Gender, race, and homicide: precarious gesture and bringing the generalized other back in

Through decades of research, analysts have started to turn their focus on how cultural factors are intrinsic on how homicides are committed, treated, and solved. For Anthony J. Lemelle (2013) “Gender, race, and homicide: precarious gesture and bringing the generalized other back In,” he provides a sociological perspective in his attempt to study alternative examinations on data analysis in which will highlight the boundaries, “where we find undue group instability by using a symbolic interactionism framework.” (Lemelle, 2013) More inquisitively the purpose of the study is to look at how the arrangement of data is an alteration of intersectional analyses (incidence of homicide) for the composite of race and gender categories. However, the study was created around the question of “Does gender and race identity  represent different ways of performing homicide?” (Lemelle, 2013) These categories includes white male and white female, black male and black female. In conducting his research the author uses the methods collecting qualitative and binary data from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, US Department of Justice, the Unified Crime Reports of 2009, and the Supplementary Homicide Reports.  For these sources they were appropriate in collecting and analyzing the data that the author is able to provide information surrounding the criminal homicides (i.e. justifiable homicides,” non-negligent manslaughter or other killings, and murders) that are reported to the police.

As Lemelle further went into his study he was able to go into detail more on what the main thesis is looks at cultural factors in the composite of race and gender categories as gestures of precariousness. According to Lemelle, “Homicide appears to be a set of apparatuses determinative by local practices of production.” (Lemelle, 2013) Lemelle was also able to employ the research methods of collecting are used in providing information on the relationship between the victims and the offenders, the circumstances surrounding the homicide, and the weapons used. He uses this cross-classified data to support his thesis, as well as answer his hypotheses. The limitations to conducting his study, and examining the social, intersectional, and cultural components of race and gender, was the aspect of  the religion of the victims and the offenders; in which was seen as important in organizing the social stratification. For Lemelle, attention paid to the family organization of the victim and the offender, was also thought to be beneficial. Overall, Lemelle deployed a qualitative and binary study on the differences in race and gender in the incidence of homicide.

References

Lee, M. R. (2011). Reconsidering culture and homicide. Homicide Studies, 15, 319–340.

Lemelle, Anthony. (2013). Gender, Race, and Homicide: Precarious Gesture and Bringing the Generalized Other Back In. Journal of African American Studies. Vol. 17, Issue 4. Pg. 546-565