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Organized gangs in the united states
Sociology of street gangs
Sociology of street gangs
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Organized gangs in the united states
Sociology of street gangs
Sociology of street gangs
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Mona Ruiz was raised in the middle class neighborhoods of central Santa Ana in a household of two parents, and seven siblings. Although Ruiz had family members affiliated with gangs, her father despised gang members. Both of them would have talks about how proud he’d be if she furthered her education and became a police officer. He had said to her and her sisters, “gangs promise only shame and danger for a young girl.” (Ruiz 27).
During his time studying these boys, he found that most cases of conflict were resolved without the use of weapon(s), but rather with “harsh conversation”. This observation highly contradicts the typical view of gang members who are commonly stereotyped by their local community and justice system in Oakland. Rios describes how the boys “Conversations often involved references to guns as analogies for resolving conflict and demonstrating manhood”. The fact that most conflicts are dealt with in non-violent ways, highlights the negative role
The array of neighborhoods in the center southern California holds nest to the notorious Crips and the Bloods. The documentary Crips and Bloods: Made in America starts with the generation before the blue and red covered the streets. Thorsten Sellin’s pioneering on conflict theory best describes the development of the gangs. There were two waves of cultural conflict that led up to the Bloods and Crips. The primary culture conflict derived in the 1950s, segregation defined norms that strictly separated blacks and whites.
The overall distrust of women is deep-rooted in the majority of the male gang members. Most likely caused by the abandonment issues these youth encountered at an early age when their mothers came to the U.S. seeking work. While the homeboys do not
He goes on to further explain how African Americans living in that time only formed gangs to create an atmosphere of unity amongst those who felt detached from society and/or their community. Shakur also speaks about his joining of a gang , and the actual nature of these gangs which were not territorial. Since the valuable positive organizations decreased,street gangs came back full in effect. In the late 1960s one of the most violent and unlawful African American gangs in Los Angeles were formed, the Crips. Two South Central High school students named Raymond Washington and Tookie were the original creators of the Crips.
MS-13 began recruiting and their numbers began increasing with young immigrants wanting to belong. Joining the gang provided these deprived, inner-city teenagers a form of identity, a powerful one with a dangerous gang. According to, Schram, & Tibbetts, (2014) based on the characteristics of social structure in the neighborhood three different types of gangs are formed; conflict gang, criminal gang and retreatist gangs. According to, Logan, &Sullivan, (2010), the youth immigrants were exposed to violence and it is the only thing they know, therefore making them vulnerable to joining MS-13 gangs. MS-13, a gang, which formerly formed for the sole purpose of self-protection, has now escalated into what social structure characteristic would describe as criminal and conflict gang.
I think the key aspect of viewing gangs and the young people they influence is keeping in mind how they are inducted into gangs and how they are contained in them. Now, I have never experienced this system personally. I've only seen into this world through media; which, as we know, can be wildly inaccurate and rarely provides the full story. But I think that's where the importance of Levitt's credibility comes into play.
The idea of a biker gang in the 21st century seems insane. How are there “turf” wars? Hasn’t all of the turf in the USA been divided, divvied, and assigned? Not the case, according to the article America’s Biker Gangs published by TheWeek.com. The article, published in June of 2015, details the history, growth, and continued issues associated with the deadly gangs in the US.
(Gangs) A deviant subculture is defined as a subculture, which has values and norms that differ substantially from the majority of people in society. When a neighborhood or community favors illegal activities, a criminal subculture is likely to develop such as gangs. Walter Miller states that deviant subcultures don’t arise from the inability of a community to achieve success, but because of a lower-class subculture whose values and norms are different from the rest of society. Subcultures can be a good thing, because they can provide a sense of belonging, interaction with people who have similar interests, and gives members the freedom to express individuality.
In the 1990s, gang violence was on the rise, where it was dominantly founded in youths. Anderson, Dyson, and Lee (1996) argued that when a group of African American youths join together and commits delinquent acts and crime, they already categorized as gangs to the American public. This affect and many other affects is what creates an increase in gang violence. Those other factors are socioeconomic status, history, race, gendered, and geographic background. They play a huge role on the creation and formation of gangs.
Gang Definition and Classification Classifying gangs is no simple task and to begin you must thoroughly understand the definition and requirements of being classified as a such. There are multiple definitions of a gang, according to The Modern Gang Reader but the one I will focus on is “A street gang is any durable street-oriented youth group whose involvement in illegal activity is part of its group identity.” Now that the definition has been identified it needs to be broken down further to clearly differentiate why this definition is essential.
Documented reports of gang activity in Western civilization (primarily in England) can be traced back to the seventeenth century, though, it is speculated that they might well have existed as early as the fourteenth or even the twelfth century. Although similar in character these earlier street gangs did not have the same organized structure that we see in much of the later gangs (Howell and Moore, 2010). It wasn’t until the late eighteenth century (as the American Revolution was ending) that gangs began to emerge in America along the east coast and not until the late nineteenth century did they appear along the west coast (Howell and Moore, 2010). While the gangs of today are much more organized and better equipped, their threat to public
The concept of gangs is a simple, but complex as the mind of man slips further away from logic due to social issues becoming a gateway to violence. Gangs have become a scapegoat to identity and power due to those stuck in poverty and those who are vilified by society in the middle class. The psychology of gangs is perplexing today more than ever, it has moved from a need for something to a suicidal mission which can put every one at risk. The sociological structure develops this mind set as social issues with friends, family, and the self which leads one to essentially be suicidal for a type of because they can feel comfortable dying in. These concepts give fuel to an eternal loop of hatred and grief which only incites more idolization of gangs
The establishment of youth gangs is complex, with numerous factors contributing to their growth. Due to the lack of opportunities and resources in their neighborhoods, young individuals from low-income homes are more likely to join gangs while they are poor (Howell, 2012). Teenage gangs also regularly form in places with severe unemployment, social isolation, and poor housing, which contributes to a
Most gangs are made up of young males that are of a similar background and have a desire of acquiring