Ms 13 Gang Mara Salvatrucha

A.) Conflict Theory/pg.27: a theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of groups that are competing for scarce resources.

In the video about MS 13 Karl Marx’s concept of conflict theory is illustrated to the point of being almost identically to the term itself. MS 13 is all about the gang Mara Salvatrucha. They are a gang that has territory all over the United States and Latin America. They are in essence competing with each other for scarce resources. They are competing with other gangs that neighbor their territories. The biggest gang that they compete with for resources is Mara – 18. This is their rival gang whom they go to war with. They are just one of the numerous groups that MS 13 competes with actually stay alive.

When examining the actions and system of a gang like MS 13 we come to see that the whole gang atmosphere can be categorized as a subculture of the “normal” lives most people wake up and go to sleep to. MS 13 can be seen as a subculture because they possess certain values and behaviors unique to them, but still similar to other gangs. They have their own specific culture within our normal day to day culture we call home. The members of MS 13 live by a credo and act in similar manners different from our lives but similar to other members of MS 13. Members of MS 13 all live for the gang. They are sometimes born into the gang, and the members believe they will die for their gang as well. They have their own system of initiation, while brutal it is still special to them. The gang culture as a whole encompasses many gangs like the Crips, Bloods, and Mara-18, but MS 13 has its own set of values and mannerisms that distinguish it from the larger gang culture as a whole. This culture within a culture is very diverse and extremely tight-knit. They possess similar values to other gangs like the fight and die mentality that they possess, but they are very different in terms of behavior from other popular gangs that we know. They are primarily Hispanic, and are also attributed to be especially brutal. They often decapitate victims and in some instances they remove the genitals of rival

When the gang MS 13 began to gain power in the United States the government came up with the idea to deport any known gang members and affiliates back their country of origin. This may have come to solve part of our problem with the gangs, and it got them out of our hair, but it had negative effects on the countries that they were deported to. When the deportees arrived in their countries they no longer had a criminal record and were free to go and plant the seeds of MS 13 wherever they went. This is where we see the culture shock come into play. The country of El Salvador has relatively little gang problems, but in 2005 they had over 5,000 gang related deaths in that year alone. The natives of El Salvador at this point would have experiences a culture shock. The native culture and the culture that surrounds MS 13 are very different from each other, and when they come to contact they do not mix well. The citizens of El Salvador would have been very culture shocked at the atrocities that were being committed in their countries now that MS 13 has moved in. They would no longer have the same perspective on reality at that point and would go on living life in a very different way. This culture shock primarily occurred when the gang lifestyle and society were introduced into the country of El Salvador as a result of the mass deportation of gang members out of the United States and into their