Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Lefever, Harry G.

Titel

"Playing the Dozens": A Mechanism for Social Control

Ist Teil von

• Phylon, 1981-03, Vol.42 (1), p.73-85

Ort / Verlag

Atlanta, Ga: Atlanta University

Erscheinungsjahr

1981

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• A review of the literature dealing with the ritual of "playing the dozens," which is an aspect of the expressive culture of Ur black M adolescents in the US. Playing the dozens is a verbal contest between two individuals, usually in a street or public setting, in which each tries to better the other in an exchange of insults in the form of one-liners or rhyming sentences. Most studies of the dozens have attempted to analyze & explain the practice with reaction-formation, frustration-aggression, & socialization theories. Without denying the validity of such theories, an attempt is made to explain the dozens as a nonviolent mechanism for reducing & resolving social conflicts, & for maintaining social control within the group. AA