What is a Gang and Their Culture?

So What is a Gang?

I’ve always wondered how politicians and law enforcement define a gang. According to the California Penal Code 186.22, a gang is “Any on-going organization, association or group of three or more persons, whether formal or informal, having as one of its primary activities the commission of crime (including fights, intimidation, and threats), having a common name or common identifying sign or symbol, whose members individually or collectively engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal activity.”

What is the Definitional Problem?  

The definitional problem is that there is no accepted or straightforward definition of a gang. Criminologists, sociologists, and other gang researchers have struggled with a definition for years! The U.S. Department of Justice held a series of meetings between researchers, policy makers, community activists, police, and others, but was unsuccessful.    

What are the Consequences of the Definitional Problem?

A gang can be any group that you or another responsible person think is a gang. For example, no disrespect towards any members of Greek life, but fraternities and sororities can be seen as gangs. They fit the definition of a gang. They are on-going organizations of three or more who have a common name, identifying signs and symbols, and to some extent, engage in criminal activity such as underage drinking and hazing.     

Now that I’ve discussed the definition of a gang, the definitional problem and its consequences, what’s missing from the definition?

CULTURE is missing! “The distinctive set of values, beliefs, customs, and morals that have been learned and transmitted through generations and are shared by a small or large group of people with common language and geographical proximity.” Culture is not static. It evolves from dynamic multi-leveled social interactions between individuals and their ecological environment. Culture allows individuals to give meaning and interpretation to life experiences.

  

What can we take from all this information?

When cultural norms are tested and challenged by: individuals or groups (e.g., racial tensions), environmental, social, political, and/or historical differences (e.g., school context, civil war, 3rd world), adaptations occur and give rise to subcultures or contracultures. A subculture or contraculture is “a group of people with a distinct normative system of beliefs, values, attitudes, and behavioral habits that conflict with that of a larger dominant culture.” Gangs emerge when adolescent alienation occurs, and adolescent alienation occurs when family, schools, and other institutions fail to meet youth needs. Identification with the gang contraculture provides: sense of belonging to a family type system, sense of being fully accepted and validated, sense of competency and mastery, an accepted means of managing psychological distress, and sense of personal cultural identity.        

The Gang Culture

The rejection of dominant culture values is evident in the: unique style of dress, slang language and hand signs, tattoos and graffiti symbols, and antisocial behaviors (criminal activity and drug use). The gang contraculture secures prestige, financial success, and status for alienated youth. Some of the gang values include power, respect, loyalty, attachment, commitment, protection, security, unity, and acceptance. These values can be found in the dominant culture; however, gangs maintain a twisted interpretation of them. For example, power is gained by the amount and type of trouble a member experiences. Displaying toughness through physical strength and fighting ability earn respect. Loyalty may be determined by the willingness of a member to commit a drive-by shooting.

The ambiguous definition of a gang and its failure to include culture has caused lots of confusion among society. Culture is very important when defining a gang because it is ultimately one of the primary reasons of gang emergence.