NCJ Number
147205
Journal
City and Society Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1983) Pages: 45-75
Date Published
1983
Length
31 pages
Annotation
This article examines the rise of Chicano youth street groups and gangs in the context of ecological, economic, cultural, and psychological aspects of Mexican adaptation to urban life in the U.S.
Abstract
The author posits that the transition from Mexican patterns to those found in American cities was made more difficult because Mexican immigrants typically lived in poorer sections of the city and worked in menial, low-paying jobs. Schools and law enforcement often became sources of additional problems in the culturalization and socialization processes undertaken by the immigrants' children. Many youths who could identify neither with Mexican nor with American culture evolved a cholo cultural style which aided adaptation to the street. This cholo culture eventually developed into the gang subculture, which provided these youth with a source of identity and avenues for personal fulfillment. The pattern of Mexican adaptation to urban life requires examination in the face of continuing immigration and the strengthening of the gang subculture. 4 notes and 103 references