Citation

Cintron R. Am. J. Prev. Med. 2000; 567(1): 42-53.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Based on 10 years of ethnographic fieldwork in Latino/a communities in northern Illinois, this article discusses violence and vengeance among mostly youths and gang members. Four points are made. First, violence and vengeance are attempts to establish order over escalating disorder. Vengeance often relies on a conviction regarding some higher moral order. Second, vengeance can operate as a kind of counter ideology when the values and beliefs of a legally based society seem hypocritical or unreliable. Third, when we consider vengeance as a kind of ideology, we acknowledge the power of language to create a sense of what is real. Moreover, we acknowledge that ideological language always hides something from view. In short, vengeance hides pain, fear, and other vulnerabilities that lie at the root of violence. Fourth, in acknowledging these roots, the possibility of another ideology begins to take shape, that is, trust. (Abstract Adapted from Source: The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2000. Copyright © 2000 by SAGE Publications)

School Violence
Violence Causes
Juvenile Violence
Juvenile Offender
Sociocultural Factors
Hispanic Juvenile
Hispanic Gang
Hispanic Offender
Hispanic Violence
Juvenile Gang
Gang Violence
Illinois
Vengeance
04-00