Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City

Urban violence is often stereotyped as senseless, but in fact, it is highly regulated through an unwritten code of the street. This set of rules is a powerful and pervasive form of etiquette that governs the way people negotiate safety in public spaces. In this seminal urban ethnography, Elijah Anderson illuminates the informal code that develops when formal institutions of law and order prove untrustworthy or unjust.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 08/11/2026
ISBN: 9781324106029
Pages: 400