"City Gangs" download by chapter

City Gangs

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Table of Contents:  wbm_toc.pdf

 

Foreword: Revisiting City Gangs:  wbm_foreword.pdf

 

Chapter 1: An Urban Lower Class Community:  wbm_chapter1.pdf

Every human act is at the same time unique and universal. Every form of human behavior shares countless characteristics with countless other forms simply because it is performed by humans and must, therefore, share those special characteristics which distinguish behavior which is human from that which is not.

Chapter 2: The Evolution of an Urban Lower Class Community:  wbm_chapter2.pdf

The youth gangs of Midcity frequented the corners and roamed the streets of a community which may be characterized with little qualification, as “lower class.” The bulk of its residents engaged in manual occupations, had relatively little specialized training or advanced education, lived in low-rent apartments in multiple-unit buildings, and pursued a characteristic set of life practices involving drinking, gambling, and violation of legal statutes as customary behavior.

Chapter 3: The Persistence of Lower Class Subculture:  wbm_chapter3.pdf

Previous sections have examined the nature of a persisting articulation among several broad features of Midcity’s socio-economic adaptation—focusing primarily on economic patterns, residential patterns, and certain customary forms of behavior of its resident population.

Chapter 4:Youth Crime in an Urban Lower Class Community:  wbm_chapter4.pdf

Whatever the merits or demerits of these several models, the data of the Midcity study would indicate that any conceptual position, which leads to a characterization of urban adolescent street gangs as “deviant” or “outsiders,” indeed reflects a curious picture of American society.

Chapter 5: The Corner Gangs of Midcity:  wbm_chapter5.pdf

For most Americans, the term “gang” evokes strong associations. The gang, viewed as one type of associational unit, is generally seen as something bad—incorporating, in varying degrees, elements of violence, of illegality, of danger, of social threat.

Chapter 6: Male Adolescent Crime and Demographic Characteristics:  wbm_chapter6.pdf

The fact that court rates in Midcity showed regular variation by social status level suggests that criminal behavior by male adolescents may be conceived as a behavioral practice which is related in a regular fashion to other social and cultural characteristics.

Chapter 7: Family Relationships of City Gang Members:  wbm_chapter7.pdf

The family, conceived primarily as a child-rearing agency, and the gang, defined in some detail in the last chapter, were both prevalent forms of associational units in Midcity. It is important to repeat at this point that the term “family” as used in the present work refers to that kinship-based associational unit which bears primary responsibility for the rearing of children—particularly during the pre-adolescent period.

Chapter 8: Female Sexual and Mating Behavior:  wbm_chapter8.pdf

A conventionalized image of sex life on the street corner has become a staple of much current literature dealing with the adolescent corner group. Sexual behavior is pictured as extensive, untrammeled, and lurid—as a constant round of wild sex orgies, collective perversions, and unrestricted promiscuity.

Chapter 9: Male Sexual and Mating Behavior:  wbm_chapter9.pdf

The role of sex, mating, and parenthood in the lives of Midcity males differed both in quality and significance from the role of these same activities in the lives of females. For females, the mating-childrearing couple “was of central concern; attracting mates, handling relationships with the other sex, bearing, raising, and supporting children were fundamental objectives of existence.

Chapter 10: Drinking Behavior in City Gangs:  wbm_chapter10.pdf

Drinking was a central concern of all Midcity gangs. Gang members were active drinkers. Forms, circumstances, and meaning of drinking were frequent topics of discussion. Individuals maintained firm personal opinions as to the rightness or wrongness of alternative drinking practices.

Chapter 11: Theft Behavior in City Gangs:  wbm_chapter11.pdf

Theft was the dominant form of criminal behavior in Midcity gangs. During the age period from 15 to 18, 37% of all known illegal actions recorded for the Project groups, and 54% of “major” offenses, involved theft in one of its varied forms.

Chapter 12: Incentives for Adolescent Theft Behavior:  wbm_chapter12.pdf

The bulk of subsequent analysis centers on the citation and discussion of 21 incentives for theft. The concept of “incentive” serves both at the basis for the theoretical treatment of motivation for theft and as the basis of the measurement unit used to provide quantitative information as to the relative weight and prevalence of various incentives.

Chapter 13: Violent Crimes in City Gangs:  wbm_chapter13.pdf

The 1960’s have witnessed a remarkable upsurge of public concern over violence in the United States.

Appendix:  wbm_appendix.pdf

 

Index:  wbm_index.pdf