NCJ Number
147299
Journal
Sociological Quarterly Volume: 17 Dated: (Spring 1976) Pages: 162-179
Date Published
1976
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study examined the political attitudes and activities, especially with respect to civil rights programs, of young men, now aged 21 and 35, who were members of black youth gangs initially studied between 1959 and 1962.
Abstract
Respondents are former members of youth gangs studied 12 to 15 years ago in Chicago (Short and Strodtbeck, 1965, 1974), the same young men who at that time were politically disinterested. Beginning in the summer of 1971 and concluding in the fall of 1972, extensive interviews were conducted with 52 former gang members. Informants provided information on others. The Nation's pragmatic orientation to politics is reflected in the data. Organizations and approaches that received the greatest amount of support from the former gang members were those with "track records" of concern with the daily problems of ghetto life and with achieving leverage in the political process. There was widespread approval of black power and street demonstrations, and more than one-third of the respondents (two-thirds of the Vice Lords) approved of violent methods. These findings indicate that many former gang members are not content with traditional peaceful methods of achieving civil rights, although they strongly approve of such methods and the organizations under whose auspices they have been pursued. 6 tables, 13 notes, and 43 references