Birds of a Feather Fight Together: Status-Enhancing Violence, Social Distance and the Emergence of Homogenous Gangs

This study proposes a theoretical framework for understanding two empirical findings from gang research: (1) gangs are generally racially homogenous, even in heterogeneous environments, and (2) gang violence tends to be intra-racial. We draw from the extensive literature on street gangs as well as f...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Gravel, Jason (Author)
Contributors: Allison, Blake ; West-Fagan, Jenny
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2018
In: Journal of quantitative criminology
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Keywords:
Game Theory
Game theory
Gangs
Group formation
Status
Violence
Description
Summary:This study proposes a theoretical framework for understanding two empirical findings from gang research: (1) gangs are generally racially homogenous, even in heterogeneous environments, and (2) gang violence tends to be intra-racial. We draw from the extensive literature on street gangs as well as from research on group formation and status-enhancing behavior to develop a theoretical model of gang formation.
ISSN:1573-7799
DOI:10.1007/s10940-016-9331-8