
Barrio Gangs
Street Life and Identity in Southern California
James Diego Vigil(Author)
University of Texas Press
Published on 1. October 1988
Book
Paperback/Softback
220 pages
978-0-292-71119-8 (ISBN)
Description
Within the Mexican American barrios of Los Angeles, gang activity, including crime and violent acts, has grown and flourished. In the past, community leaders and law enforcement officials have approached the problem, not as something that needs to be understood, but only as something to be gotten rid of. Rejecting that approach, James D. Vigil asserts that only by understanding the complex factors that give birth and persistence to gangs can gang violence be ended.
Drawing on many years of experience in the barrios as a youth worker, high school teacher, and researcher, Vigil identifies the elements from which gangs spring: isolation from the dominant culture, poverty, family stress and crowded households, peer pressure, and the adolescent struggle for self-identity. Using interviews with actual gang members, he reveals how the gang often functions as parent, school, and law enforcement in the absence of other role models in the gang members' lives. And he accounts for the longevity of gangs, sometimes over decades, by showing how they offer barrio youth a sense of identity and belonging nowhere else available.
Drawing on many years of experience in the barrios as a youth worker, high school teacher, and researcher, Vigil identifies the elements from which gangs spring: isolation from the dominant culture, poverty, family stress and crowded households, peer pressure, and the adolescent struggle for self-identity. Using interviews with actual gang members, he reveals how the gang often functions as parent, school, and law enforcement in the absence of other role models in the gang members' lives. And he accounts for the longevity of gangs, sometimes over decades, by showing how they offer barrio youth a sense of identity and belonging nowhere else available.
Reviews / Votes
This book is a major contribution to understanding Chicano gangs, and the multiple marginality framework will prove helpful in understanding other Chicano subcultures in very different contexts. (American Anthropologist)More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Austin, TX
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-292-71119-8 (9780292711198)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
James Diego Vigil is Professor of Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine.
Content
Foreword
Preface
1. Introduction
2. Ecological and Socioeconomic Background to Emergence of Street Gangs
3. Sociocultural Factors in the Choloization of the Mexican American Youth
Population
4. Four Life Histories-Wizard, Geronimo, Freddie, and Henry
5. The Gang Subculture as a Lifeway: Structure, Process, and Form
6. The Notorious Side of the Gang Subculture
7. Psychodynamics of Gangs
8. Conclusion
Glossary
References
Index
Preface
1. Introduction
2. Ecological and Socioeconomic Background to Emergence of Street Gangs
3. Sociocultural Factors in the Choloization of the Mexican American Youth
Population
4. Four Life Histories-Wizard, Geronimo, Freddie, and Henry
5. The Gang Subculture as a Lifeway: Structure, Process, and Form
6. The Notorious Side of the Gang Subculture
7. Psychodynamics of Gangs
8. Conclusion
Glossary
References
Index