Street Culture 2.0: An Epistemology of Street-dependent Youth

Whenever adults interact with young people, they are working cross-culturally. Even if there appears to be a common cultural heritage between the two, youth culture is different from adult culture, and those differences will affect all aspects of the interaction. These cultural differences become even more pronounced when working with at-risk populations such as homeless, street-dependent youth who, in addition to all the other issues they face, have adapted to a culture of the streets. Street Culture is about understanding this culture and how it affects the behavior and thinking of youth who are living it. But it is not about the external “look” of the culture of the streets, which may change over time or from place to place. It is about the response to the environment exhibited by adolescents that underlies that culture. Because of this, and because much of the concepts are the result of adolescent thinking and behavior (as opposed to homeless thinking and behavior), much of the material has application even outside of the context of programming for and working with young people actually surviving on our streets. If you are challenged by youth behavior in any capacity, including parenting, you may recognize the challenges in these pages and find tips that will help you to become more effective with, and a better resource for, young people.