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GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY

Sociology of Delinquency (SOCI 302)

Study Questions for Life in the Gang: Family, Friends and Violence
(Decker and Van Winkle 1996)

Chapter 1
1. Gangs have been studied intensively from the 1890s to the present. In one or two sentences, describe the focus of research in the 1890s, the 1920s, the 1960s, the late 1980s, and the present and link this research to the theorists discussed in the first few weeks of this class.

2. Thrasher's conception of "the gang" is particularly relevant for this book. What, according to Thrasher, is the origin of gangs? In what sense are they similar to other primary or secondary groups? In what respect are "gangs" different or distinctive?

Chapter 2
3. Summarize, if possible in a diagram, the theoretical framework that the authors use to explain the dynamics of "the gang."

4. What is the research design of this book? What are the major research questions they address?

5. How do the authors conceptualize (define) "gang"? How did they modify this definition over the course of their research? How do adolescents who belong to gangs define "the gang"?

Chapter 3
6. In defining an area for research, sociologists specify the limitations of their study, some of which are a result of choice and some of circumstances. What are the characteristics of the study population in this research?

7. How do the adolescents in this study come to join a gang? How does this process of gradual affiliation (the "push") reflect theories introduced early in the course?

8. Initiation rituals are extremely important in creating solidarity among gang members, and many of these rituals are explicitly violence? Why is the violence important?

9. Initiation rituals vary by gender. Compare the initiation rites used by male and female gangs.

10. What is the linkage between defending turf and drug sales that Decker and Van Winkle suggest?

11. What functions do symbols (gang colors, for example) fulfill for gangs?

12. Why do you think that gangs are rarely racially or ethnically integrated?

Chapter 4
13. Differentiate between what the authors identify as the importation and imitation-adaptation models that account for origins of gangs in St. Louis. Two factors combined to increase and expand gangs in St. Louis. What are they?

14. What rules or norms govern gang members? To what extent are gangs organized and structured hierarchically?

15. Gang have their origin, the authors write, in specific neighborhoods, but over time their members become dispersed living in different areas. How might this dispersion affect the gang's propensity to organize?

16. What is the relation between subgroups within the gang and the gang as a cohesive group?

Chapter 5
17. What differences did the authors find in the activities of gang members and non-gang adolescents?

18. How might the surveillance of gang activities and the enforcement of laws against minor criminal activities affect both the self concepts and the future prospects of adolescents who are identified as "gang" members? What theorists studied earlier in the semester might we apply in answering this question?

19. Is it possible to make any general statements about the use of drugs and attitudes toward drugs in gangs based on Decker and Van Winkle's research? Attitudes toward drug use are both inconsistent and ambiguous in this book. What attitude toward the larger society do these inconsistencies and ambiguities reflect?

20. Describe the process through which the gang becomes a primary group for the adolescent?

21. How does low-level criminality lead to more serious criminal activity on the part of gangs and subgroups within gangs?

Chapter 6
22. Contrast the stereotype of gangs and gang members especially in relation to crimes they commit levels of violence against the reality of gang experiences that Decker and Van Winkle's research revealed.

23. Like any sociologists, Decker and VanWinkle present evidence for their assertion that there is not necessarily a connection between belonging to a gang and selling illegal drugs. On what specific facts do they base this assertion?

24. In this chapter the authors discuss both functional and expressive violence. How are these types of violence different? Discuss the feedback loop created by violence that is answered by retaliation.

Chapter 7
25. What are the relations between gang members and social institutions including (1) schools, (2) police and justice system, and (3) other social institutions such as churches and youth groups? How might the theories of Differential Association and Labeling explain the troubled relations between these adolescents and society's conventional institutions?

26. What is the linkage between "underclass theory" and the options that gang members perceive are available to them in terms of their futures? Are the gang members' perceptions accurate or simply a rationalization for their failure to engage in conventional life styles? Explain your answer.

Chapter 8
27. What is the reaction of families to their children's involvement in a gang? What strategies do families use to break the bond between their children and the gang? Why do these strategies fail? Decker and VanWinkle suggest that there are points at which intervention might be helpful. What intervention might help?

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Patricia Masters Online updated on 08/15/04