NCJ Number
129898
Journal
Language Sociology Volume: 11 Dated: (1982) Pages: 391-411
Date Published
1982
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Interviews were conducted with members of a Harlem black juvenile gang in order to study what adolescents reveal about their social world through their conversation and terminology.
Abstract
Peer terminology is useful in identifying and locating associational patterns and activities when the range of possible terms is broadened. This study found that the language of the street gang members appeared ambiguous until systematically analyzed in the interactions between interviewer and subjects. The youths were often unconscious of the ways in which they named peer relations and described their social structure through their terminology. 3 tables, 2 figures, 15 notes, and 20 references (Author abstract modified)