sociology book report on; Villains: Crime and Community in the Inner City by Foster, J.(1990)
...tial. She was therefore just introduced as Janet, a student who wanted to join the ladies’s darts team. This was the first of many new experiences for Janet as she had never played darts before, let alone played on a darts team. This also caused Janet her first ethical dilemma. She started visiting the pub regularly for the ladies darts and within a short period of time became a regular. “The darts provided me with an excellent opportunity to mix with the men and gave me a ‘legitimate’ reason for being there”. (Foster, 1990, p.167) Janet went to the pub as herself . By this I mean that she wore her own clothes and did not try to change or disguise her accent. They all knew she didn’t come from around the area but came from Bournemouth. She was accepted as a woman first and then a student. They did not take her project or writing a book very seriously. As Janet was quite small people often teased her and she became known as ‘little Janet’ or that ‘nice young lady’. Janet became one of the crowd for six months and then mentioned to Chris that she would like to interview some of the couples from the pub. Chris asked around and all were willing to assist Janet with her ‘project’! Janet interviewed most couples on three separate occasions over a number of weeks. The interviews were semi-structured and they went from their early years up to present day life. All the interviews were tape recorded. The teenagers she used were a sample of children from the parents she used. This enabled her to follow through from father to son: “ It was far from ideal, as my close contact with their parents caused natural suspicion and mistrust among the youths”. (Foster, 1990, p.168) Janet admitted that she was: “Rather naive at the outset. Without a doubt this was the most physically strenuous and weakest part of the fieldwork”. (Foster, 1990, p.168) Janet took five months in observations and interviewing the groups of teenagers. As they didn’t spend a lot of time at home in the evenings most of the interviews and group discussions were held at Janet’s flat. Janet built up a good relationship with the boy’s and was not understood by the girls as they thought she should be at home having babies and looking after her man. As she had built up a good relationship with the boys they had no problems taking part in her research which they thought was a novelty. The girls refused even though Janet and the boys tried to persuade them. Janet mentions ethical dilemmas by saying they are: “Inevitable in participant observations and are largely resolved in the field”. (Foster, 1990, p.169) She then goes on to quote the following: “If one is to effectively study adult criminals in their natural setting, he must make the moral decision that in some ways he will break the law himself. He need not be a ‘participant’ observer and commit the criminal acts under study, yet he has to witness such acts or be taken into confidence about them and not blow the whistle”. (Polsky, N.(1971)Hustlers, Beats and Others, Harmondsworth: Pelican.) Janet then goes on to mention a few times she had a problem were blowing the whistle would have done her research no good. She also goes on to state that she never received stolen goods and got away with that because the network were mainly male. She had more problems where ethics were concerned amongst the younger element. To get out of some of these problems she would say that she might make a mistake which would get them all caught and into trouble. At the end of chapter two in her notes, she mentions that not all the people who used the pub were used in her research: “There were a ...