NCJ Number
173290
Date Published
1995
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Historical, cultural, and underclass theory are used to develop concepts regarding the development and persistence of Hispanic gangs in Los Angeles and other parts of southern California.
Abstract
The analysis notes that multiple marginality results form cultural accommodation to Anglo-American lifestyles, intergenerational cultural clashes, and limited opportunities for social mobility in barrio communities. Thus, the barrio street gang is a social adaptation to the economic and cultural stressors that confront young men of Mexican descent. Chicano gangs have adopted a distinctive street style of dress, speech, gestures, tattoos, and graffiti; this style is called cholo. Many cholo customs symbolize an attachment to and identification with the gang, although many individuals copy the style without joining the gang. In addition, gang members differ widely in their degree of commitment to the gang; those with the most problematic lives and intense street experience are the most likely to become regular members. Over the decades, the gang has developed a social structure and cultural value system with its own age-graded cohorts, initiations, norms, goals, and roles that now function to socialize and enculturate barrio youth. The emergence of a gang subculture initially resulted from urban maladaptation among some segments of the Mexican immigrant population, but it is now a continuing factor to which new Hispanic immigrants must adapt. 62 references