NCJ Number
225273
Date Published
2008
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This chapter examines the social dynamics of ethnicity in Australian youth gangs and gang-related behavior, with attention to gang processes in the western suburbs of Sydney.
Abstract
There are volatile relations between Lebanese youth and other youth across major parts of the city. This hostility, which has been brewing for a number of years, is partly fostered by the territorial segregation of particular groups into racialized patterns of disadvantage. This provides the preconditions for the emergence of violence-oriented, street-present youth who band together as identifiable groups. Recent studies and recent events show the potential for extreme aggression and mass violence that stems from a highly charged and racialized social environment. Racism permeates the lives of many of the young Muslim men, as it does the lives of other ethnic minorities such as Vietnamese-Australians. The forms of gang violence vary depending upon ethnic affiliation, which in turn is related to the physical strength linked to racial genetics. Asians in the study sample were most associated with weapons use. The Lebanese and Samoans were disdainful of the generalized use of weapons on the streets. For some Vietnamese, the use of weapons was related to an individual’s body size. These findings stem from research of a qualitative nature, generally involving interviews and observation as key methods of data collection. 2 figures and 17 references