Victor Rios
Victor M. Rios is an Mexican-American professor, author, and former gang member.[1] His work predominantly focuses on how race, inequality, and class play a role in determining if a person will be successful in education.[2]
Early life
Rios immigrated with his mother to the United States when he was two years old and grew up in a single parent household in one of the poorest neighborhoods in East Oakland, where he was surrounded by drugs and gangs. Prior to joining a gang at the age of 14, Rios dropped out of school in the eighth grade.[3] He would later attempt to attend school a second time, but dropped out again soon after. It wasn't until he saw his best friend and fellow gang member get shot and killed during a gang related gun fight that Rios decided to leave the gang life and resume his schooling with the help of one of his high school teachers, Flora Russ.[1]
In 1995 Rios began attending California State University, East Bay, with the condition that he take part in a summer program that would teach him basic college academic skills.[4] He graduated from East Bay in 2000 and by 2005, had earned a master's degree from East Bay and a Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley.[4]
Career
Rios is currently employed by University of California, Santa Barbara, where he works as a professor of juvenile justice and sociology.[5] He is the co-winner of the 2013 Oliver Cromwell Cox Award for his book Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys,[6] and is the creator of the sociological theory youth control complex.[7] In this theory Rios argues that the prison and education systems work together to "criminalize, stigmatize, and punish young inner city boys and men."[7] He opposes terms such as "at risk youth", as he feels that the term "at risk" has damaging affects on children.[4][8]
Bibliography
- Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys (NYU Press, 2011)[9]
- Street Life: Poverty, Gangs, and a Ph.D (Five Rivers Press, 2011)
- Project GRIT: Generating Resilience to Inspire Transformation (Five Rivers Press, 2016)
- Buscando Vida, Encontrando Éxito: La Fuerza de La Cultura Latina en la Educación (Five Rivers Press, 2016)
- Human Targets: Schools, Police, and the Criminalization of Latino Youth (University of Chicago Press, 2017)
References
- 1 2 "One Man's Journey From Gang Member to Academia". PBS NewsHour. Retrieved 2017-02-08.
- ↑ Rios, V. (2012-11-16). "Reframing the Achievement Gap". Contexts. 11 (4): 8–10. doi:10.1177/1536504212466324.
- ↑ Rios, Victor M. (2011-01-13). Street Life: Poverty, Gangs, and a Ph.D. California: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 9781453832691.
- 1 2 3 Tijero, Evelyn. "From East Oakland to Ph.D.". The Pioneer. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
- ↑ "Victor Rios | Sociology". www.soc.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2017-02-08.
- ↑ "Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Past Award Recipients". American Sociological Association. 2011-03-08. Retrieved 2017-02-08.
- 1 2 Wade, Lisa; on, PhD (November 10, 2010). "Victor Rios and the Youth Control Theory". Sociological Images. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
- ↑ "At Promise Youth | UCSB Sustainability". www.sustainability.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
- ↑ Monaghan, Peter (2011-07-17). "A Sociologist Returns to the Mean Streets of His Youth". The Chronicle of Higher Education. ISSN 0009-5982. Retrieved 2017-05-31.