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Urban Gangs and Migration

AmericaÆs migration to the cities late in the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century led to another phenomena: urban gangs. Gangs are associated with crimes and social problems, but for many residents, they serve an organizational function. This paper will examine gangs in American society through two different lenses: A comprehensive study of gangs, and a first-person account of life in a Los Angeles street gang.

Martfn Sßnchez JankowskiÆs Islands in the Street begins with a theory of gang involvement. First, he examines the theories of gangs, and concludes that these theories provide unsatisfactory explanations because they are sociological theories about delinquency rather than ôtheories about gangs per seö (Jankowski 21). Most theories assume that individuals join gangs because they provide social order that is lacking in poor communities.

Jankowski (23) first looks at individual gang members, whom he says all have a ôdefiant individualist character.ö Seven attributes make up this character: competitiveness, mistrust, self-reliance, social isolation, a survival instinct, Social Darwinist world view, and defiance. These traits are derived from a childhood spent in low-income neighborhoods, where life experiences are far different than those found in suburbia. Gang members generally display all of these traits, and with much greater intensity than is found among non-gang residents of low-income neighborhoods.

Simply put, people join a gang because they believe it will improve the quality of their lives. Jankowski (39) systematically takes apart the myths of gang membership. First, he found that children from broken homes are no more likely to join a gang than children from nuclear families. Second, gang members do not join hoping to find a replacement family. Third, the rate of gang membership among high school dropouts is only slightly higher than the rate among those who finished sch...

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Urban Gangs and Migration. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 10:59, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1707649.html