Introduction
The etymology of the word "gang" provides a starting point from which to examine contemporary social views about juvenile gangs. Social views are constructed from an amalgam of fact, myth, and stereotype, and like all such views, they tend to elicit and to perpetuate the process that they seek to describe. It is one of the noteworthy insights of social. The isolation and labeling of forms of behavior tend to solidify and sometimes to increase such behavior.
Situations and Occasions
The range of occasions is wide, and their normative character varies with levels of formality, focus, and specificity. A scheduled lecture is a relatively formal, focused, and specific occasion, while an afternoon at the mall is more diffuse and unfocused. What can be expected at the lecture is fairly predictable. There is little leeway for deviance in such occasions, and those experienced with such events know what is expected from them. More diffuse events have a looser set of expectations, and the sense that the event is structured may be lost on the participants. Where there are diffuse circumstances, even though clearly located in time and space, the concept of behavior setting may best conceptualize the form of the event. For example, a bar constitutes a behavior setting where various situations and occasions arise and dissipate over time.
The situation variable was broken into five categories:
- hanging out
- party/picnic
- school
- drive-by
- other
Occasions of Gang Violence, 1981 and 1988
|
1981 |
1988 |
(N = 140) |
(N = 178) |
|
Hanging out/other |
75.0 |
81.3 |
Party/picnic |
8.6 |
2.3 |
School |
0.7 |
0.6 |
Drive-by |
15.7 |
15.9 |
Total |
100.0 |
100.0 |
As an occasion, hanging out was defined as those circumstances when the gang members would come together, typically at a specified location in their area, and talk, play, drink, use drugs.....
