NCJ Number
129897
Journal
Urban Life Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Dated: (April 1982) Pages: 3-26
Date Published
1982
Length
24 pages
Annotation
A follow-up participant-observation study of an inner-city Chicano community revealed that members of a neighborhood gang retained their gang affiliation even as they matured into their twenties and assumed adult roles and responsibilities. This finding contrasted with previous studies which held that juvenile delinquent gangs disintegrate as their members reach adulthood.
Abstract
The author proposes several cultural and socioeconomic reasons for this phenomenon. Most of the gang members retained marginal economic positions, and their loyalty to an honor-based subculture which valued dependence and lack of domination encouraged them to stay in the gang. The gang provided a culturally acceptable means of maintaining intimate, dependent relationships with other men while publicly leading independent lives. 1 table, 13 notes, and 35 references (Author abstract modified)