gangs

gangs
Frederic M. Thrasher (The Gang, 1927) challenged earlier images of gangs as simply loose groups of street-roaming law-breakers, and presented an analysis influenced by the approach of the Chicago School: gangs as structured groups of working-class youth, bound by loyalty, territoriality, and a hierarchy. Furthermore, the formation of gangs reflects social dynamics, such as identity search in the face of urban change; thus, to quote Thrasher, ‘the gang develops as one manifestation of the economic, moral and cultural frontier, which marks the interstice [between areas of the city]’. Other key works include William Foote Whyte, Street-Corner Society (1955) and Albert K. Cohen, Delinquent Boys (1955). Questions of race and gender were neglected until recently. See also delinquency; subculture; youth culture.

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