Gangs
... Teenage gang members are linked to conventional barrio life is obvious. In fact, much of the members' time is spent with the "family", at school, under the eyes of neighbors who are decidedly "square," and, sometimes, with conventional friends or dates. This linkage is usually overlooked in researchers' preoccupation with the life of the gang during the hours that it bands together. We can understand only a little bit of this interaction from what the gang members have to say about their square contacts. Retrospective data like this may reflect romanticism about the old days, ruefulness at missed opportunities to reintegrate with the conventional world, or self righteousness at having "gotten out in time." But what evidence we have indicates that the cliques of the 1950s were more closely integrated with the conventional barrio structures and norms. The cliques of the 1970s appear more remote, and faced more disapproval and more efforts at control. It is one of the strongest police and newspaper myths about these gangs that membership is "inherited," that is, passed on from father to son. But such cases are rare among either men or woman. It is true that about half of the gang members had some relative in some gang (44 percent of the men and 59 percent of the women). It is true that young members were significantly more likely than older ones to have a relative. It is true that a fraction (less than 20 percent) of the gang members came from what seem to be "gang families"-with three or more relatives in a gang in either neighborhood. Rather than "inheritance" being the norm, most relatives were brothers and cousins and uncles rather than parents. No matter what particular social network led the member to the gang, one thing is clear: the gangs' initiation procedures became far more ritualized. By the time the younger cliques were active, most of the boys and girls were "jumped" into the gang, in an initiation rite in which the recruit is tested for his/her ability to stand up in a fight. Almost none of the members of older cliques went through this ordeal. There was no initiation ritual. The gang asked prospects to join and that was it. In sum, gangs of the 1970s were less clearly adolescent groups than the gangs of the 1950s. While there were still many social routes to enter the gang, the younger cliques contained more men and women with relatives who had been gang members. And, finally, the gangs had acquired the accountrements of ritualized initiations. Girls were generally much more restricted than boys-especially girls in earlier cliques. They were asked whether parents had been "strict or easy" and whether they really enforced the rules or "just let things ride." About 60 percent said that they really did enforce the rules. Men from earlier cliques were no more likely than ones from more recent cliques to say that their parents had been strict. But 94 percent of the older women, and 72 percent of the younger ones said that their parents were strict, almost all of the older women (though only half of the younger ones) said that their parents really enforced the rules. The limitations placed on girls sound like a litany of traditionalism, of parents trying to keep their daughters from being "bad" girls. Four degrees of gang commitment have been observed in affluent gangs. While these degrees of commitment are also observed in inner-city gangs, the majority of affluent gang members currently embrace the second two degrees of commitment. Although the terms for these degrees have developed from the pop-lingo, they are useful when identifying a gang member's degree of commitment. The terms for the four degrees of commitment to a gang are: * Full-fledged * Associate * "Wanna-be" * "Hanging out" Full-fledged - This is a youth who has the highest degree of commitment to the gang activity, regardless of what type of gang activity the gang pursues. This youth is also likely to be the instigator of crimes and intimidation against those inside and outside the gang. In most affluent gangs, full-fledged members typically comprise 10% to 20% of the group. It is uncommon to find a majority to be full-fledged members. Associate - These youths have the second highest degree of commitment to the gang. Typically, these youths don't initiate the ideas to commit crimes and acts of violence, but easily become embroiled when trouble starts. These youths often like to intimidate those outside the gang, but without life-threating violence. One tactic is simply to surround others and taunt. It ...