NCJ Number
239494
Journal
Journal of Gang Research Volume: 19 Issue: 2 Dated: Winter 2012 Pages: 33-49
Date Published
2012
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This study examined four globalization trends that might increase the criminal impact of gangs at both global and local levels.
Abstract
The four globalization trends are "global pillage," "urbanization," "democratization," and the "networked enterprise." The view that globalization has the propensity to increase the proportion of impoverished people is called "global pillage." This occurs as globalization creates a class that benefits from expanding markets while unskilled people and low-wage earners, due to increased economic competition, do not enjoy the material benefits of affluence. This creates a global underclass from which gangs are likely to increase. In addition, some researchers predict that virtually all of the global population growth will occur in cities. Research suggests that there are increasing proportions of city dwellers who live in the most impoverished areas of these cities. Poor, disadvantaged areas of cities have historically spawned gangs. The concept of "democratization" (Friedman, 2000; Giddens, 2003) is best defined as "the process of obtaining access to any product, service, or advantage that was previously unattainable by the general populace or was previously reserved for the state." Democratization has made technology, information, and advance weaponry more readily available to citizens and criminals alike. Those with a criminal mind-set will form gangs in order to expand their resources for criminal enterprises. Manuel Castells' concept of a "networked enterprise" has emerged in the context of globalization. A "network enterprise" is best defined as "an endeavor in which the system of means is composed of the intersections of segments of autonomous systems, thereby producing components that are paradoxically both dependent and autonomous" (Castells, 2000). This has become the template not only for legal global businesses but also for criminal enterprises organized to achieve criminal goals. 31 references