The purpose of this research is to evaluate reports of studies regarding the origins of youth-gang membership. The research will set forth a general statement of the sociology of gangs as a social subculture and then discuss five accounts of research into the phenomenon of gang participation. Referring to study design and methods researchers used to address and understand the variety of issues that present themselves where youth gangs are concerned, the research will also suggest a way of studying gang membership, including its causes and the content of gang dynamics.
The fact that youth gangs are linked to violent and other antisocial or criminal behavior is a commonplace of modern experience. Examples of school violence in Littleton, Colorado, and Jonesboro, Arkansas, in recent years show that gang membership is not the only index of antisocial youth; however, a significant body of research explores youth gangs as a sociological phenomenon around which boys (mostly, though there are gang girls) organize, through which they express social and psychological experience, and from which they derive social and personal support even when gang membership overlaps and converges with penalties attached to criminal behavior. The big picture of research into gangs is that the experts desire to understand where and how gangs fit into the larger structure of mainstream society, what gangs offer members that mainstream society either cannot or will not, and what motivates individuals to join a gang in the first place. Because of the antisocial and violent aspects of gangs and the costs connected with gang-related behavior that place individual members in the criminal-justice system, researchers also want to understand--and find ways to prevent--the attractions of gang membership.
Citing psychosocial and sociocultural theories that suggest complex factors may explain gang membership among Latinos in the United States, Arfaniarromo (2001) retro...