Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow's hierarchy of needs represents the fundamental needs of person throughout their life. The hierarchy of needs relates to why people decide to join the gang. The bottom of the hierarchy shows psychological needs a person will need such as food, water, shelter, and clothing. When, a person is available to attain these needs, they go to great lengths to survive. Many gangs offer food, shelter to coax people who have become desperate. The next tier of Maslow's hierarchy of needs is safety and security, which is also important to a person who live in a violent neighborhood or is being harassed. There are other gangs like Barrio Azteca that have been formed to protect themselves from other gangs. Joining a gang
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In most gangs there are often hierarchy, which divides people into caste. With this people who are in a lower caste often follow the direct orders from someone viewed as a authority gang within the gang. With orders given out by gang members with more power, members that have a lower status are often persuaded to carry out the orders by promises or by threats. Often gang members build a relationship with adolescentes and with this the adolescents are more likely to be obedient towards the gang members. Gang members may have request such as robbing someone, beating someone up or shooting someone and most adolescents would not follow orders like this normally because they are often taught morals and principals by their parents and guardians. In different neighborhoods the amount of gang violence and gang association may conform individuals to join a gang. In neighborhoods such as El Paso that have been affected by illegal drugs and gangs it is very likely that youths have social pressure to join. Friends and family of an individual may be involved in gangs activities or is a part of a gang, therefore joining a gang may seem as the social norm. Many people conform because they often want to fit in with a group, which is known as normative influences and this may be the main reason why there is a high rate of youths join gangs. Factors such as rewards and …show more content…
With interacting with peers, there is pressure placed on the children to conform to fit in with other peers. In areas where there are many children joining a gang may pressure other children who are hesitant to join more likely to join. Since the Barrio Azteca gets new members from a sponsorship from a current members, it makes sense that adolescents may be pressured by friends who are already in the gang. When children interact with other children they become more self conscious, which means that they start comparing each other and joining a gang may seem like a good opportunity. Joining a gang for an individual will give them a sense of power and will make people around them think that they are cool.
Another important agent of socialization is school because you are able to learn valuable information such as basic math skill and you also learn how to properly interact with others. Schools have the opportunity to teach the students the dangers of gangs, but it can be a place that students are peer pressured, bullied, and were fights occur. Being away from you parents and their control give teenagers a sense of freedom, which gives them more incentive to rebel. Since all the students are away from their parents control, they take more