NCJ Number
165299
Date Published
1996
Length
36 pages
Annotation
Youth gangs have been part of the urban landscape in the United States for over 200 years, but changes in gang characteristics have occurred simultaneously with rapid changes in the social and economic structure of cities and suburbs.
Abstract
In particular, hierarchical influences of the political economy, social structure, and neighborhood change on contemporary gangs have been significant. Recent research has been conducted to explore gang types, youth gang violence, the relationship between gangs and drugs, and the economic lives of gang members. The link between gang formation and the social and economic makeup of communities is a consistent theme in the gang literature. Two factors have fundamentally changed the labor market for poor young men and women in urban areas since 1970: (1) replacement of unskilled and semiskilled blue collar jobs with pink collar jobs requiring higher educational and skill levels; and (2) growth of the informal economy, especially the illicit economy surrounding drugs. The decline in the manufacturing sector within urban centers has fostered drug selling, and changes in the economic and social organization of drug markets have paralleled changes in the formal labor market. Social controls in weakened neighborhoods have been overwhelmed by volatile drug markets and violent crimes. A consequence of the structural transformation of urban neighborhoods has been the flight of middle class residents to neighborhoods and towns surrounding the urban core. The future of gangs is examined in terms of gang careers, gang violence, female gang members, and the institutionalization of gangs in communities. 12 notes