RT Article
T1 The social sonstruction of the American Street gang
JF The Oxford handbook of gangs and society
SP 89
OP 105
A1 Lopez-Aguado, Patrick
LA English
YR 2024
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1919895981
AB This chapter explores the social construction of street gangs in the United States by considering how such groups are institutionally or legally created, as well as how social meanings are ascribed to gangs as a stigmatized type of social group. Gang members build social meanings for their own groups that are often contextualized by the communities and social orders that structure their everyday lives. However, these nuanced self-definitions are often overshadowed by media depictions and legal definitions that reduce gangs to purely criminal groups. The United States’ history of using gangs as racialized folk devils have also directly shaped the heavily lopsided identification of people of color as criminal gang members. The chapter argues that, consistent with its historical use legitimizing colonial expansion and racial domination, the constructed image of the criminal gang member primarily functions as a punishable status that facilitates the conviction and mass imprisonment of poor communities of color.
NO Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 102-105
SN 9780197618158
K1 street gangs
K1 Moral Panic
K1 Social Construction
K1 gang labeling
K1 Mass Incarceration
K1 structural racism