To understand the interpersonal and specific gendered relationships in Phillipe Bourgois' ethnography In Search of Respect, he uses the ethnographic approach. First in understanding Candy's interactions with men. Second in Primo and Caesar's accounts of school yard rape. Then third in Ray's relationship with his wives and children. In order to understand these different kinds of ethnographic evidence and the relationship between social structures and individual agency it needs to be evaluated in the context, the environment and how El Barrio is socially, racially, and economically marginalized. The ethnographic approach analyzes the cultural patterns and views of the participants in their own environment over a long amount of time in order to examine and understand the culture of a group. By taking on ethnographic approach, Bourgois can make sense of the dysfunctional interpersonal relationships in El barrio. Ross and Rapp argue that "The personal is political,  this means that the most intimate details of private life are structured by larger sexual relations. Therefore they advocate examining gendered relationships in terms of its history, kinship, family, location relationships, religion, and political economy. Along similar lines, Vance's social construction theory is an analytical process that deconstructs how people came to be who they are. The theory strives for uncertainty, ambiguity, and rejects closure because what is considered natural is actually changeable and the production of human action and history. In this way social construction theory advocates understanding sexuality and gender by continually collecting data, engaging in research and holding onto a commitment to asking questions and questioning assumptions. Bourgoies engages in the type of analysis that advocate Ross and Rapp and Vance's by engaging in a understanding of the history, kinship family, and religion. By continualy gathering data and asking questions he will be able to provide a full assessment of the relationships that are going on in El Barrio. The first gendered relationship to look at is Candy's interactions with men. Candy is a very charismatic woman in El barrio who broke most social norms in that community. She resisted male domination by eloping with Felix to resist her father's domination and by shooting her husband. She also attained her own income through selling drugs. One would think by these actions she escaped male domination. However, despite her resistance towards males, she continues to find another man, in this case Primo, who will eventually abuse her as well. Schultz and Lavenda provide an explanation as to why Candy would continue to partake in abusive relationships. The type of society Candy lives in is a patrilineal society where men believe they are superior to women and women agree. This shows that how people treat Candy and her interactions with them is what made her the person she