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Abstract
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This paper offers insights on how current knowledge of gangs and organizational behavior can assist in understanding and preventing the development and persistence of gangs, including how to create constructive alternatives for at-risk youth.
Abstract: Recent research findings are presented to show how gangs imitate legitimate social forms, that is, norms and structure found in the larger society, as well as the unique ways in which gang members view wider society. This research suggests that organizationally and normatively there are selective and patterned practices, structures, and conditions in gang society that also have comparable forms in legitimate society. Attention to these similarities and their patterns places gang intervention and prevention in a more grounded theoretical perspective, such that social change in gang operations can be guided by scientific knowledge of organizational behavior. A first step toward controlling the development of the gang organization and the participation of juveniles in gangs may involve launching a counterattack on the gang's belief system and the ideological socialization given its members. Jankowski's research shows that gangs use ideology as an organizational resource for explaining why their members should be in the gang and for solidifying the members' allegiance to the group through bonding, unity, and identity. If the gang is viewed by juveniles as the only adaptive alternative to their lacking economic opportunities, coupled with a belief that society does not care what happens to them, many youths will remain vulnerable to the recruitment and socialization practices of gangs. 4 tables, 21 notes, 9 selected references, and appended survey questions for soliciting information on the gang as a social organization. (NCJRS Abstract) |