NCJ Number
179340
Date Published
1997
Length
79 pages
Annotation
This study analyzes specific social signs, as well as modes of social and physical survival, of street children in Nairobi and their role in delinquency and urban violence.
Abstract
Through an analysis of the organization of street children, gang life, and social signs evidenced in the street, the study reveals how a street-based counter-society that thrives solely on violence has been created in Nairobi. The study looks at the initiation of young people to street culture and gang life and informal and illegal aspects of survival in the streets. Findings confirm the plurality of worlds in Nairobi, the existence of a counter-society in the street culture. This society has its peculiar mode of life that has begun to transmit to the second generation of street children through family lineages created in the streets. In essence, the counter-society has a formal identity that is rooted in violence, and it functions through an integrated totality and mode of thinking, feeling, and acting that serves the purpose of uniting street children into a distinct collectivity. The study establishes a provisional conceptual model of the counter-society, a typology that presents society as one more world in the urban milieu. This society, however, lacks longevity due to its violent codes of operation. The mortality rate is very among among the actors and death almost always results from violence. Further, social actors are marginalized by national institutions. 13 references and 99 footnotes