This paper will examine the reasons that lead to gang membership in our society. While there are exceptions to the general circumstances of gang membership, they are amazingly few. Unquestionably, the same reasons occur far more often than not. "Gangs, like most other social groups, originate under conditions that are typical for all groups of the same species" states Thrasher (1927) in paraphrasing of Park and Burgess (p. 4). Consequently, it is no accident that gangs in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles share the same roots and background. The exterior of these gangs may appear different, but the interior dynamics that brought them to the place they now occupy are identical. In other words, gangs, and therefore gang members, share a common basis for their existence in our society. Gang members grow up in poverty. They are raised in families that experience pervasive racism and unemployment. Gang members are the product of a milieu that affords them little opportunity for education and economic success in mainstream society.
Sixty years ago, Frederic M. Thrasher published a study of over one thousand Chicago gangs. Today, his book is still considered one of the definitive references on the subject.
Thrasher's observations and conclusions give a clear picture of what a gang is and what leads to gang membership. One of the reasons for the timelessness of his observations is that while Thresher used Chicago for his study, his major conclusions have a universality that could then, and can today, fit any major city in the United States.
Thrasher defines a gang as follows:
An interstitial group originally formed spontaneously, and then integrated through conflict . . . characterized by the following types of behavior: meeting face to face, milling, movement through space as a unit, conflict, and planning
. . . [resulting in] solidarity, group awareness, and attachment to local territory (Thrasher, p. 46).
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