Interesting story today on N.P.R., about gangs and gang culture in L.A. and a huge gang leader bust. Got me thinking. The interviewee talked about how gangs flourish because of family issues, not just youth issues.
How old are gangs? The kinds of gangs we know of today. The kind romanticized in “West Side Story”. The kind that involves typically kids from age 11-20.
Have there always been gangs? Is the family dynamic the same now as it was in 1677? Or 1077? I’m not trying to be doltish ( god forbid… ), but when did the familial dynamics change in a way that caused gangs to arise?
There’s a story in the Bible, Old Testament, in which the prophet Elisha is accosted by a gang of youths, and finds it necessary to call down an angry bear to maul them.
Gangs are groups of young men with nothing better to do. Agrarian societies rarely have gangs because there’s too much work to do. Once you have cities you start getting unemployment (capitalism at work) among young men (women are generally pregnant at this time) who flock together (birds of a feather). Rampant testosterone doesn’t help. Gangs give the members a sense of belonging in a society that ignores them (at best) or despises them. They also give a clear sense of structure (hierarchy) to people who are often lacking that in their personal and family lives; they give a sense of identity in a society that tries to turn people into good, conforming, bland little consumers; they give power (through fear/crime) to people who have no power. You’ll notice that gangs are composed of poor, under-educated young men who separate themselves from the society that has failed them.
Indeed, they’ve been around ever since people were labeled as outcasts and driven away. These outcasts would then form their own group, and often strike back at those they see as having wronged them. So, they’ve been around since the caveman days most likely.
I’ve a book somewhere in a pile called City Police. It’s a fascinating non-fiction work. It’s the inner mechanisms of Frank Rizzo’s Philadelphia Police Department.
The first chapter is a very interesting examination of the rise of urban crime. The author makes a highly persuasive argument that the invention of gin almost singlehandedly caused urban violent crime to escalate to the point where organized constabularies and gaols (jails) were more of a necessity.
), but when did the familial dynamics change in a way that caused gangs to arise?