Personal issues
These can include having low self-esteem or not knowing how to deal with emotional problems in a positive manner. Drug use and financial need are other personal issues that can make gangs appear more attractive to young people.
Education issues
Bad grades and low expectations, both on the part of the student and his or her teachers, can make school seem intolerable while simultaneously increasing the appeal of gangs. Oftentimes, these students have learning disabilities that haven't been diagnosed or they haven't received the proper assistance.
Community issues
Young people who grow up in neighbourhoods where violence is pervasive or where gang association is already prevalent may feel extra pressure to join a gang in hopes of being protected. Communities without many job opportunities or after-school activities are often plagued with high levels of gang activity. Areas going through an ethnic transition may also see increased levels of gang membership as gangs fight to hold onto old turf or gain new turf.
Joining a gang generally involves associating with gang members, gaining the acceptance of important members within the gang, and eventually being admitted (Spergel 1995). In many cases, youths will hang out with gang members for up to a year before making a commitment to join. Initiation rites, which range from being beaten by a row of gang members, to committing a crime or harming a member of an opposing gang are sometimes required to join a gang, but are often inconsistently applied (Fleisher 1998; Spergel 1995; Miller 2001). Many gangs also actively recruit new members, especially when gang membership is low offered three ways of gang recruitment:
- Fraternity the gang advertises itself as, cool, hip, and the social thing to be in.
- Obligation the gang appeals to a person's sense of community.
- Coercion the gang uses physical and psychological intimidation.
The youths who join gangs do so for a variety of reasons. Common motives include:
- Camaraderie.
- A sense of belonging.
- Status.
- New and exciting experiences.
- Access to drugs and alcohol.
- Monetary opportunities through illegal markets.
In most cases, youths believe that the gang will provide them with things they could not otherwise obtain. Many gang members report that they joined gangs because of the protection they offered. Youths who live in areas with gangs may be harassed, assaulted, or even killed if they do not belong to a gang, and friends who are tough and have knowledge of the streets may protect them. However, they may also be harmed if they belong to the wrong gang.
What is a Subculture?
As understood in sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a set of people with a distinct set of behaviour and beliefs that differentiate them from a larger culture of which they are a part. Wikipedia (2006)
The subculture may be distinctive because of the age of its members, or by their race, ethnicity, class and/or gender, and the qualities that determine a subculture as distinct may be aesthetic, religious, political, sexual or a combination of these factors. Subcultures are often defined via their opposition to the values of the larger culture to which they belong, although this definition is not universally agreed on by theorists. Wikipedia (2006)
Members of a subculture will often signal their membership through a distinctive and symbolic use of style. Therefore, the study of subculture often consists of the study of the symbolism attached to clothing, music and other visible affectations by members of the subculture, and also the ways in which these same symbols are interpreted by members of the dominant culture. If the subculture is characterized by a systematic opposition to the dominant culture, then it may be described as a counterculture. SUB-CULTURAL THEORY (2005).
More simply, subcultures are groups of individuals who, through a variety of methods, present themselves in opposition to the mainstream trends of their culture.
It may also be difficult to identify subcultures because their style may often be adopted by mass culture for commercial purposes, as businesses will often seek to capitalise on the subversive allure of the subculture in search of cool, which remains valuable in selling any product. This process of cultural appropriation may often result in the death or evolution of the subculture, as its members adopt new styles, which are alien to the mainstream. A common example is the punk subculture of the United Kingdom, whose distinctive style of clothing was swiftly adopted by mass-market fashion companies once the subculture became a media interest. In this sense, many subcultures can be seen to be constantly evolving, as their members attempt to remain one step ahead of the dominant culture. In turn, this process provides a constant stream of styles, which may be commercially adopted.
The different Concepts of Criminal/ Deviant subcultures
Cloward & Ohlin's Differential Opportunity Theory
In 1959, Richard Cloward noted that Merton's anomie theory specified only one structure of opportunity. He, however, argued for two and not one. He thus proposed that there are also illegitimate avenues of structure, in addition to legitimate ones. In 1960 he and Lloyd Ohlin worked together and proposed a theory of delinquent gangs known as Differential Opportunity Theory. Cloward, Richard A. and Ohlin Lloyd E. (1960)
They argue that the types of criminal subcultures that flourish depend on the area in which they develop. They propose three types of delinquent gangs.
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The first, the criminal gang, emerge in areas where conventional as well as non conventional values of behaviour are integrated by a close connection of illegitimate and legitimate businesses. This type of gang is stable than the ones to follow. Older criminals serve as role models and they teach necessary criminal skills to the youngsters. Cloward, Richard A. and Ohlin Lloyd E. (1960)
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The second type, the conflict or violent gang, is non-stable and non-integrated, where there is an absence of criminal organisation resulting in instability. This gang aims to find a reputation for toughness and destructive violence. Cloward, Cloward, Richard A. and Ohlin Lloyd E. (1960)
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The third and final type, the retreatist gang, is equally unsuccessful in legitimate as well as illegitimate means. They are known as double failures, thus retreating into a world of sex, drugs, and alcohol. Cloward and Ohlin further state that the varying form of delinquent subcultures depended upon the degree of integration that was present in the community. Cloward, Richard A. and Ohlin Lloyd E. (1960)
Cohen
Cohen wrote in the mid 1950s. He was interested by the fact that many of the crimes that the delinquents, that he was studying, committed were non-utilitarian crimes. That is the perpetrators of the crime received no financial reward.
Cohen argued that these crimes were a direct response to status depravation, and that this response was logical and rational. He argued that, “most delinquents are motivated by status depravation, wherein they feel they are looked down upon by the rest of society and denied any status. They therefore develop a distinct set of values or a subculture which provides them with alternative ways of gaining status, and possibly leads them into delinquency.” “Investigating Deviance.” Cohen, Albert K. (1955)
Miller
Miller argues that there are six focal concerns of working class culture and that these can lead the working class male into crime. The six focal concerns are...
- Trouble. They accept that life involves violence and they will not run away from fights.
- Toughness. Males ought to demonstrate the qualities of manliness, being able to drink, play sport, etc.
- Smartness. This involves looking good and being smart.
- Excitement. They are always on the look out for some fun and enjoyment.
- Fate. They believe that there is little that they can do about their lives, what will be, will be
- Autonomy. Although they can do very little about the general conditions of their lives, they do not want any one to push them around.
Criminal Sub-culture Structure
- Stable, cohesive, working class community:
In this respect, the potential criminal will be able to develop contacts within both the mainstream working class culture and the criminal sub-culture (for example, stolen goods can be easily distributed through a wider mainstream culture that doesn't ask too many questions...). Sociology (2006).
In this sense, there needs to be people of standing in the community who have "done well" out of crime. The young criminal can begin to model themselves upon such people - they represent tangible evidence of the fact that crime does pay and that crime is a potential route out of poverty, deprivation, low social status and so forth. Sociology (2006).
- A career structure for aspiring criminals:
The importance of a stable community within which criminal enterprises can develop and flourish is significant here, since if a criminal sub-culture is to develop as a form of "illegitimate opportunity structure" it has to be organised in some way. In effect, it has to provide people with the opportunity for advancement (promotion) as an alternative to the legitimate job market, for example. Sociology (2006).
How does a criminal sub culture develop?
Criminal behaviour is, more often than not, sub cultural behaviour. Criminologists have long acknowledged that actions and identities labelled "criminal" are typically generated within the boundaries of deviant and criminal subcultures. In this sense, much of what we take to be crime is essentially collective behaviour whether carried out by one person or many, particular criminal acts are often organized within and instigated by sub cultural groups. Though the boundaries may remain ill defined, and the membership may shift in gross numbers and level of commitment, these subcultures constitute definitive human associations for those who participate in them. Biker, hustler, Blood, pimp and prostitute all name sub cultural networks as much as individual identities.
(Sutherland & Cressey, 1970) knew and as innumerable case studies have since confirmed, criminal subcultures incorporate far more than simple proximities of personal association. To speak of a criminal subculture is to recognize not only an association of people, but a network of symbols, meaning, and knowledge. Members of a criminal subculture learn and negotiate "motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes;" develop elaborate conventions of language, appearance, and presentation of self; and in so doing participate, to greater or lesser degrees, in a subculture, a collective way of life. Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture (1995)
Much of this sub cultural meaning, action, identity, and status is organized around style that is, around the shared aesthetic of the subculture's members. As earlier researchers have found, subtleties of collective style define the meaning of crime and deviance for sub cultural participants, agents of legal control, consumers of mediated crime images, and others. If we are to understand both the terror and the appeal of skinheads, Bloods and Crips, graffiti "writers," rude boys, drug users, and others, we must be able to make sense not only of their criminal acts, but of their collective aesthetics as well.
(Katz, J.1988) research has linked criminal acts and aesthetics by examining the styles and symbolic meanings, which emerge inside the everyday dynamics of criminal events and criminal subcultures. By paying attention to dark sunglasses and white undershirts, to precise styles of walking, talking, and otherwise presenting one's criminal identity, (Katz, J.1988) has sketched the "alternative deviant culture," the "coherent deviant aesthetic" in which, punks, youth gang members, and others participate. In these cases, as in other forms of crime on and off the street, the meaning of criminality is anchored in the style of its collective practice.
The biker's ritually reconstructed motorcycle, the gang member's sports clothing and tattoos, the graffiti writer's mysterious street images, and the skinhead's violently provocative music constitute the essential cultural and sub cultural materials out of which criminal projects and criminal identities are constructed and displayed. Once again, participation in a criminal subculture, or in the culture of crime, means participation in the symbolism and style, the collective aesthetic environment, of criminality. Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture (1995)
Research has shown that symbolism and style not only shape criminal subcultures, but also intertwine with the broader social and legal relations in which these subcultures are caught. Criminal subcultures and their styles both grow out of class, age, gender, ethnic, and legal inequalities, and by turns reproduce and resist these social fault lines.
This interplay of sub cultural style, inequality, and authority in turn reminds that we must examine not only criminal subcultures, but the legal and political authorities who construct these subcultures as criminal. When we do, we find these authorities both reacting to sub cultural styles, and themselves employing symbolic and stylistic strategies of their own against them. The criminalization efforts of legal and political campaigners display again the power of cultural forces, in criminalizing cultural and sub cultural activities, and campaigning for public support, moral entrepreneurs and legal authorities manipulate legal and political structures, but perhaps more so structures of mass symbolism and perception. Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture (1995)
Conclusion
Young people join gangs and subculture because of the following reasons:
- Family issues
- Personal issues
- Education issues
- Community issues
Common motives include camaraderie, a sense of belonging, status, new and exciting experiences, access to drugs and alcohol, and monetary opportunities through illegal markets.
A Criminal Subculture is an environment in which the young are exposed to crime committed by the adult subculture. This subculture is mainly concerned with the utilitarian crime. Crime, which results in are financial reward/gain. This subculture usually forms in areas where there is an established organisation of adult crime that provides an illegitimate opportunity structure for youths to learn the. Criminal subcultures and their styles both grow out of class, age, gender, ethnic, and legal inequalities, and by turns reproduce and resist these social fault lines.
References
Bjerregaard, B., and Lizotte, A. J. (2001). "Gun Ownership and Gang Membership." In The Modern Gang Reader, 2nd ed., ed. J. Miller, C. L. Maxson, and M. W. Klein. Los Angeles: Roxbury.
Cohen, Albert K. (1955) Delinquent boys: the culture of the gang. New York: Free Press.
Cohen, Albert K. (1966) Deviance and control. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
Cloward, Richard A. and Ohlin Lloyd E. (1960) Delinquency and opportunity: a theory of delinquent gangs. New York: Free Press:
Matza, D. (1964) Delinquency and drift. New York: Wiley.
Matza, D. (1969) Becoming deviant. London: Prentice-Hall.
Katz, J.(1988) Seductions of Crime: Moral and Sensual Attractions in Doing Evil. New York: Basic Books.
Thrasher, F. M. (1927) The Gang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sutherland, Edwin Hardin. and Cressey, Donald R. (1970). Criminology. 8th Ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott.
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Sociology (2006). Criminal Sub culture structure.[Online] Available at:
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