From the Hood to the Home: Masculinity Maturation of Chicago Street Gang Members

This study draws on interviews with 29 former gang members to investigate changes in masculinity practices over time, which we term masculinity maturation. We find that perceptions of masculinity embodied dominant values while in the gang as well as later in the life course. For instance, respondents expressed that men should always act with respect, honor, and integrity toward others. We observed changes, however, in the ways that men accomplished their masculinities reflecting individuals’ shifting perceptions about the gang’s ability to be a resource to gain a masculine identity. Perceptions that the gang was not upholding masculine values spurred masculinity dilemmas that were associated with new dominant practices of masculinity centered on different social institutions like family, work, and religion as they grew older. The level of masculinity maturation that took place was linked to the strength of incongruence between perceptions of age-appropriate masculinity and gang masculinity.

“I don’t bang: I’m just a Blood”: Situating gang identities in their proper place

In this article we offer a theoretical framework for conceptualizing the relationship between gang identification, place, and identity saliency. In our interviews with current and former street gang members, participants consistently described gangs as neighborhood-based entities, but also couched these local identities within much broader Crip or Blood affiliations. These amount to multiple, simultaneously claimed identities. However, we show that not all identities are equal—that as a social geographic area increases, identities become more diffuse and less salient, territorial, or “gang-like”, resulting instead in expansive, symbolic “umbrella identities” that cover several distinct places and gangs. These umbrella identities proved quite fluid, such that Crip and Blood affiliations had little relationship to one’s gang identity and even produced some gangs with mixed Blood and Crip memberships.

Gangs and Space

This chapter explores the ways in which space shapes the territoriality of urban street gang members as well as the ways in which a gang exploits the local landscape. It begins by providing a brief overview of the classic works on the emergence of gangs, paying particular attention both to the literature on human terrain/territoriality and to the ecological studies of place, especially the Chicago school. It then looks at the criminal enterprises of gangs as they relate to space. Next, it investigates how residency, technology, and territoriality may be influencing the relationship modern street gangs have with space. It concludes with a look at the use of geographically targeted policing to curtail gang activity, especially intergang violence.

Delinquency Among Members of Hong Kong Youth Street Gangs: The Role of the Organizational Structures of Gangs and Triad Affiliations

This study explores the importance of organizational structures and formal affiliations with the Hong Kong triads to delinquency among youth street gang members in Hong Kong. More specifically, this study examines the relative importance of the number of organizational structures and triad affiliation to patterns of delinquency in a sample of active members of youth street gangs ( N = 201). With the aid of outreach social workers, a convenience sampling method was used to recruit a gender-balanced sample of at-risk youths. Logistic regression analysis of the survey data that was gathered indicated that formal affiliation to Hong Kong triads and the presence of organizational structures significantly increased the odds of delinquency (independently of each other). Suggestions for future research on gang membership and delinquency, with particular reference to the Asian context, are provided.