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Deviance and social norms
Deviance and social norms
Gangs research paper
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Once we finished watching the documentary street gangs of Los Angeles two theories were most prevalent in my mind for why there was gang formation in that area. The first being Travis herschi’s “social bonds”. Second being Walter miller’s “focal concerns”. Social bond theory is not a crime causation theory but a pro social behavior theory that helps explain deviance. This theory identified four social bonds that promote adherence to society’s laws and values. The four bonds being: attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. If there was any weakness in any of these four areas would be an explain for the cause of delinquency. Focal concerns theory is different than many other theories because it is not the rejection of middle-class values but the reasons for the behavior comes directly from the lower-class values themselves. Miller identified six areas in which lower-class males give their attention t: trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, luck, and autonomy. The more that an individual would participate in one of these areas for more respect they would gain. The reason that I chose these two theories relies mostly on what the gang members directly said about their own situations and how the documentarians explained the gangs. With the social bonds theory the first of the four bonds is probably the leading cause for why young men join gangs in the first place. Attachment can take three different forms in this theory; attachment to parents, school, and peers. When many of the gang members were asked if they had a family we find that many lived in a broken home. Either the mother or father is in prison or dead due to gang violence. So many of these teens are lacking a parental figure to look up to and idolize. Also onc... ... middle of paper ... ...ted to create their own freedom. Once we finished watching Street gangs of Los Angeles I realized that there are many other things that could contribute to gang formations but the theories I chose I believe show the main reasons for the formation of gangs and deviant behavior. If I could do anything to help stop gang formations and deviant behavior it would probably have to do with schooling. I feel like if there were a better schooling system in place individuals would have a place to go and not get into bad behavior and there wouldn’t be as much gang formation. This could be applied mainly to the “social bonds” theory. The only thing that I can possibly think of that can be done to change the focal concerns theory is to try and instill a new set of norms for the lower-class so they feel equal to everyone else and will not have to deviate to delinquent activity.
In Los Angeles and other urban areas in the United States, the formation of street gangs increased at a steady pace through 1996. The Bloods and the Crips, the most well-known gangs of Los Angeles, are predominately African American[1] and they have steadily increased in number since their beginnings in 1969. In addition, there are over 600 active Hispanic gangs in Los Angeles County with a growing Asian gang population numbering approximately 20,000 members.
Social Control Theory: Hirschi’s social control theory has been pervasively used to explain the occurrence of gangs and specifically gang membership. However, rather than focusing solely on why individuals choose to become involved in criminal behaviour including organized crime, Hirschi begins his analysis by asking, “Why do most persons conform to societal norms?” (Abadinsky 2010, 25). Consequently, according to Hirschi individuals choose to engage in delinquent behavi...
Gangs of New York is a war-packed film directed by Martin Scorsese that takes place in New York during the Civil War. This 2002 film is about a young Irish immigrant, named Amsterdam, who returns to the Five Points to get revenge on William Cutting, a powerful gang leader who murdered his father. One scene that really sticks out within the film occurs during the draft riots that took place in New York. Although this particular scene is historically accurate, there are some parts of the scene itself that seem to have a bigger impact overall. The parts that create this impact show how important this dark period was and how violently this event played out in the real world.
This paper will cover issues that young minorities encounter in the movies; Crips and Bloods: Made in America (2008), Gran Torino (2008), A Better Life (2011). Movies will be summarize, and compare and contrast youths experienced. Criminological theories shall be utilized to further elaborate issues. Finally steps and theories will be utilized towards solving issues, also possible methods to correct the issues will be addressed in the end.
According to the 2015 National Gang Report (NGR) from the National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC) almost half of law enforcement juristictions across the United States reported a rise in street gang membership and street gang activitiy. My communitty is no exception.
The enhancement model proposed by Thornberry et al. (1993) best represents the relationship between gang membership and offending. Curry et al. (2014) explain this model, “individuals with elevated criminal propensity select into gangs, which in turn correspond to even greater criminal involvement while in a gang” (p. 81). Essentially this explanation or rather perspective is a blend of the other two Thornberry et al. (1993) developed. The reason for choosing this particular perspective to represent the relationship between gang membership and offending is the other perspectives are too extreme. The facilitation explanation proposes a perspective that illustrates joining a gang with no criminal history and shooting up to a high delinquency
There are many theories that explain why people join gangs. There are also many contributing factors to include when explaining why people join gangs, especially adolescents. A few theories that support why adolescents join gangs are: the strain theory, the general strain theory, the social control theory, the differential association theory, the labeling theory, the rational choice theory, the social learning theory, and the routine activity theory. (Delinquency in Society)
I chose gang involvement because of both negative and postitive aspects gangs have on society. Gangs play a major part of society in many areas around the world. Gangs are a group of people within the same community that share common interests, or share the same situation. Gangs can be applied to all socololgical theories, functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interaction. To me, functionalism is when the gang community have a certain task to perform that is balanced and stable to the five social institutions. The way functionalism applies to gangs is how they are interconnected with society and how they serve a purspose. Whether or not society views gangs as a negative or wrong part of society, gangs also serve as a positive part of society. The manifest functions of gangs are to protect their territory and loved ones at any cost, even if it has a negative consequence to society. Other manifest functions are their acts in partaking in illegal distribution of drugs to make living show...
Gang membership and in a broader sense, crime and deviance, are social problems which have plagued every society and do not appear to be eradicated anytime in the foreseeable future. However, sociologists and other academics have conjured up explanations like the strain theory, born criminal theory, phrenology and craniometry which have aided law enforcers in their deterrence efforts. According to the structural strain theory, gang membership increase with the presence of a discrepancy between means and goals. The government could open up more avenues for youths to develop their talents. For instance, a college for the arts would serve as a mean to the goals of youths who are artistic but not academically inclined. That being said, more has to be done to prevent youths from falling under the subculture of gangsterism
= Gang Violence in California The City of Los Angeles is the “gang capital” of the nation. There are more than 450 active gangs in the City of Los Angeles. Many of these gangs have been in existence for over 50 years. These gangs have a combined membership of over 45,000 individuals.
The four parts in Travis Hirschi’s theory are attachment (“being connected with those around you”), belief (“sharing values with those with whom you associate and care about”), commitment (“a desire and understanding that abiding by the norms and values of society are the right way to het where you want to go”) and involvement (being involved “or other forms of interactions that reinforce beliefs and behaviors”). The reason why this theory goes with the documentary is because the people who join gangs lack some or all the factors that according to this theory prevent crime involvement. Some examples include when it is mention how most the teenagers who join are always left alone because their parents work. Instead of relying on their parents, they seek affection and sense of belonging somewhere else. Apart from that, the belief and commitment part of this theory comes into play when the members share their belief of wanting to protect their turf from their enemy gang rival and reinforcing their limit lines. Meaning they avoid crossing their “turf’s” dividing line into enemy territory. Lastly, the lack of involvement is seen as they –the people who became gang members— are not involve in healthy activities such as volunteer programs/ clubs and instead are attracted to the gang
Historically, gangs began to develop around the time frame of the 1970’s. Irish gangs have been known to be the first initial gang, followed by the Germans, Jewish, and Italians (Pacheco, 2010, p. 10). Gangs are larger in population and tend to be more prevalent in the United States, compared to other countries. In 2008, statistics showed that there were 20,000 active gangs and more than 1 million gang members in the United States (Pacheco, 2010, p. 12). According to Pacheco (2010) there are different types of gangs. Although these gangs are formed for individual purposes, broken up, they can form a multitude of different types of gangs. There are your traditional gangs (Crips, Bloods). Business, profit gangs, which are generated around financial gains. Hate group gangs, which their purpose is to target different ethnic groups, races or homosexuals. Copycat and delinquent social gangs, which seem to be the least relevant. Street gangs, which are prone to target younger individuals, but the actual ages of the gang members vary. Third generation gangs which are known as “terrorist”. Hybrid gangs are new to this generation, they could be considered the “hipster” of gangs. Then there are prison gangs. They are usually small in population and are structured along an individuals ethnicity (Pacheco, 2010, pp. 12-15). Gangs serve a multitude of purposes for their members. The gang becomes their family. They are able to trust them, rely on them, and the gang gives them a sense of self and importance. Gangs have the ability to offer status, refuge, protection, and opportunity of stigma free life within this population (Tower, 2013, p. 82). In the PBS show Interrupter ex-gang members and ex-gang enforcers joined together ...
Statistics show that school-based programs as well as community-based prevention programs minimize gang involvement. School-based programs address substance abuse and violence, which reduces the risk factors for gang involvement. For example, in the article “What Can Schools Do to Prevent Gang Involvement,” by Gary D. Gottfredson, he states, “universal programs in kindergarten through secondary school, which [is a] rewarding educational environment im...