Abstract
The recent development of two paradigms in the social sciences, social capital and the life-course perspective, has proven influential. Though these paradigms overlap, limited research has examined the accumulation of capital over the life-course. In this chapter, we consider the confluence of these paradigms in the context of gang membership; specifically how the onset, continuity, and desistance from gang membership influence the loss and formation of social capital. In addition, the emerging role of technology on the maintenance and creation of social capital for gang members is examined. Lastly, directions for future research explicitly examining social capital in the context of antisocial groups are presented.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
1 While we do not discuss what may constitute a gang in any depth, many definitions have appeared during this time period (see Ball & Curry, 1995). Of particular salience, with respect to this chapter, is the division in academia over whether gangs must be delinquent or criminal. Given our interest in the development of social and criminal capital through group embeddedness, we rely here on the conceptualization of gangs by Curry and Decker (1998)—that gangs are social groups who use symbols, engage in verbal and nonverbal communications to declare their “gang-ness,” exhibit a degree of permanence, possess a territory or turf, and engage in criminal behavior.
References
Anderson, E. (1999). The code of the street: decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city. New York: W.W. Norton.
Anderson, R., Bikson, T., Law, S., & Mitchell, B. (1995). Universal access to e-mail feasibility and societal implications. Santa Monica, CA: RAND.
Ball, R., & Curry, D. (1995). The logic of definition in criminology: purposes and methods of defining “gangs”. Criminology, 33, 225–245.
Bidart, C., & Lavenu, D. (2005). Evolutions of personal networks and life events. Social Networks, 27, 359–376.
Bjerregaard, B., & Lizotte, L. (1995). Gun ownership and gang membership. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 86, 37–58.
Bjorgo, T. (2002). Exit neo-Nazism: reducing recruitment and promoting disengagement from racist groups. Paper 627. Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.
Bjorgo, T. (2009). Processes of disengagement from violent groups of the extreme right. In T. Bjorgo & J. Horgan (Eds.), Leaving terrorism behind (pp. 30–48). New York: Routledge.
Bourdieu, P. (1985). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). New York: Greenwood.
Browning, C. R. (2009). Illuminating the downside of social capital: negotiated coexistence, property crime, and disorder in urban neighborhoods. American Behavioral Scientist, 52, 1556–1578.
Brunson, R., & Miller, J. (2009). School, neighborhoods, and adolescent conflicts: a situational examination of reciprocal dynamics. Justice Quarterly, 26, 183–210.
Cochran, M., Larner, M., Riley, D., Gunnarsson, L., & Henderson, C. (1993). Extending families: the social networks of parents and their children. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Coleman, J. (1988a). Social capital in the creation of human capital. The American Journal of Sociology, 94, 95–121.
Coleman, J. (1988b). The creation and destruction of social capital: implications for the law. Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics, and Public Policy, 3, 375–404.
Cronin, A. (2009). How terrorist campaigns end. In T. Bjorgo & J. Horgan (Eds.), Leaving terrorism behind (pp. 49–65). New York: Routledge.
Curry, G., & Decker, S. (1998). Confronting gangs: crime and community. Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury.
Decker, S., & Curry, G. (2002). Gangs, gang homicides, and gang loyalty: organized crimes or disorganized criminals. Journal of Criminal Justice, 30, 343–352.
Decker, S., & Lauritsen, J. (2002). Leaving the gang. In C. Ronald Huff (Ed.), Gangs in America (3rd ed., pp. 51–70). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Decker, S., Pennell, S., & Caldwell, A. (1996). Arrestees and firearms. Final report. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.
Decker, S., Bynum, T., and Weisel, D. (1998). A tale of two cities: gang organization. Justice Quarterly, 15, 395–425.
Decker, S., & Pyrooz, D. (2010). Gang violence worldwide: context, culture, and country. In Small Arms Survey 2010: gangs, groups, and guns (pp. 128–155). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Decker, S., & Pyrooz, D. (2011). Leaving the gang: logging off and moving on. Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved from http://www.cfr.com. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
Decker, S., Van Gemert, F., & Pyrooz, D. (2009). Gangs, migration, and crime: the changing landscape in Europe and the United States. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 10, 393–408.
Decker, S., & Van Winkle, B. (1996). Life in the gang: family, friends, and violence. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Durkheim, E. (1984). The division of labor in society. New York: Free Press.
Ebaugh, H. (1988). Becoming an ex: the process of role exit. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Egley, A., & Howell, J. (2011). Highlights of the 2009 National Youth Gang Survey. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquent Prevention.
Elder, G. (1974). Children of the great depression. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Elder, G. (1985). Perspectives on the life course. In G. Elder (Ed.), Life course dynamics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Elder, G. (1994). Time, human agency, and social change: perspectives on the life course. Social Psychology Quarterly, 57, 4–15.
Elder, G. (1998). Life course theory and human development. Sociological Analysis, 1, 1–12.
Elder, G., & Giele, J. (2009). Life course studies: an evolving field. In G. Elder & J. Giele (Eds.), The craft of life course research. New York: Guilford Press.
Esbensen, F., Winfree, L., He, N., & Taylor, T. (2001). Youth gangs and definitional issues: When is a gang a gang, and why does it matter? Crime and Delinquency, 47, 105–130.
Fischer, C. (1982). To dwell among friends: personal networks in town and city. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Fleisher, M. (1998). Dead end kids: gang girls and the boys they know. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Fleisher, M. (2006). Youth gang social dynamics and social network analysis: applying degree centrality measures to assess the nature of gang boundaries. In J. Short & L. Hughes (Eds.), Studying youth gangs (pp. 85–99). Lanham, MD: AltaMira.
Fleisher, M., & Kreinert, J. (2004). Life-course events, social networks, and the emergence of violence among female gang members. Journal of Community Psychology, 32, 607–622.
Granovetter, M. (1973). The strength of weak ties. The American Journal of Sociology, 78, 1360–1380.
Granovetter, M. (1983). The strength of weak ties: a network theory revisited. Sociological Theory, 1, 201–233.
Griffin, M. (2007). Prison gang policy and recidivism: short-term management benefits, long-term consequences. Criminology and Public Policy, 6, 223–230.
Hagan, J. (1993). The social embeddedness of crime and unemployment. Criminology, 31, 465–491.
Hagedorn, J. (1988). People and folks: gangs, crime, and the underclass in a rustbelt city. Chicago, IL: Lake View.
Hagedorn, J. (1994). Homeboys, dope fiends, legits, and new jacks. Criminology, 32, 197–220.
Harding, D. (2010). Living the drama. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hargittai, E. (2007). Whose space? Differences among users and non-users of social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13, 276–297.
Haynie, D. (2002). Friendship networks and delinquency: the relative nature of peer delinquency. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 18, 99–134.
Hoffman, D., Novak, T., & Schlosser, A. (2000). The evolution of the digital divide: How gaps in internet access may impact electronic commerce. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 5.
Howell, J., & Decker, S. (1999). The youth gangs, drugs, and violence connection. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Katz, C., & Schnebly, S. (2011). Neighborhood variation in gang member concentrations. Crime and Delinquency, 57, 377–407.
Klein, M. (1971). Street gangs and street workers. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Klein, M., & Maxson, C. (2006). Street gang patterns and policies. New York: Oxford University Press.
Klein, M., Maxson, C., & Cunningham, L. (1991). Crack, street gangs, and violence. Criminology, 29, 623–650.
Krohn, M., & Thornberry, T. (2008). Longitudinal perspectives on adolescent street gangs. In A. Liberman (Ed.), The long view of crime: a synthesis of longitudinal research (pp. 128–160). Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.
Kubrin, C. (2005). Gangstas, thugs, and hustlas: identity and the code of the street in rap music. Social Problems, 52, 360–378.
Lizotte, A., Tesoriero, J., Thornberry, T., & Krohn, M. (1994). Patterns of adolescent firearms ownership and use. Justice Quarterly, 11, 51–73.
Loury, G. (1977). A dynamic theory of racial income differences. In P. Wallace & A. La Mond (Eds.), Women, minorities, and employment discrimination (pp. 153–186). Lexington, MA: Heath.
Marx, K., & Engels, F. (1947). The German ideology. New York: International.
Maxson, C. (1998). Gang members on the move. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
McCarthy, B., & Hagan, J. (1995). Getting into street crime: the structure and process of criminal embeddedness. Social Science Research, 24, 63–95.
McGloin, J. (2005). Policy and intervention considerations of a network analysis of street gangs. Criminology and Public Policy, 4, 607–636.
McGloin, J. (2007). The continued relevance of gang membership. Criminology and Public Policy, 6, 801–811.
Mehra, B., Merkel, C., & Bishop, A. (2004). The internet for empowerment of minority and marginalized users. New Media and Society, 6, 781–802.
Melde, C., & Esbensen, F. (2011). Gang membership as a turning point in the life course. Criminology, 49, 513–552.
Miller, J. (2001). One of the boys: girls, gangs, and gender. New York: Oxford University Press.
Miller, J. (2008). Getting played: African American girls, urban inequality, and gendered violence. New York: New York University Press.
Miller, W. (1958). Lower class culture as a generating milieu of gang delinquency. Journal of Social Issues, 14, 5–19.
Miller, W. (2011). City gangs. Retrieved from http://gangresearch.asu.edu/walter_miller_library/walter-b.-miller-book. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
Moore, J. (1991). Going down to the barrio: homeboys and homegirls in change. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Morselli, C. (2008). Inside criminal networks. New York: Springer.
Mueller, M., & Elder, G. (2003). Family contingencies across the generations: grandparent-grandchild relationships in holistic perspective. Journal of Marriage and Family, 65, 404–417.
National Gang Intelligence Center. (2009). National Gang Threat Assessment 2009. Washington, DC: Department of Justice. Retrieved from http://www.justice.gov/ndic/pubs32/32146/gangs.htm. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
National Telecommunications and Information Administration. (2000). Falling through the net: toward digital inclusion. Washington, DC: US Department of Commerce.
Papachristos, A. (2005, March/April). Gang world. Foreign Policy, pp. 48–55.
Papachristos, A. (2006). Social network analysis and gang research: theory and methods. In J. Short & L. Hughes (Eds.), Studying youth gangs (pp. 99–116). Lanham, MD: AltaMira.
Papachristos, A. (2009). Murder by structure: dominance relations and the social structure of gang homicide. The American Journal of Sociology, 115, 74–128.
Peterson, D., Miller, J., & Esbensen, F. (2001). The impact of sex composition on gangs and gang member delinquency. Criminology, 39, 411–440.
Pih, K., De La Rosa, M., Rugh, D., & Mao, K. (2008). Different strokes for different gangs? An analysis of capital among Latino and Asian gang members. Sociological Perspectives, 51, 473–494.
Portes, A. (1998). Social capital: its origins and applications in modern sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 1–24.
Putnam, R. (2000). Bowling alone. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Pyrooz, D., & Decker, S. (2011). Motives and methods for leaving the gang. Journal of Criminal Justice, 39, 417–425.
Pyrooz, D., Decker, S., & Webb, V. (2010). The ties that bind: desistance from gangs. Crime and Delinquency. doi:10.1177/0011128710372191.
Pyrooz, D., Fox, A., & Decker, S. (2010). Racial and ethnic heterogeneity, economic disadvantage, and gangs: a macro-level study of gang membership in urban America. Justice Quarterly, 27, 867–892.
Pyrooz, D., Sweeten, G., & Piquero, A. (2012). Continuity and change in gang membership and gang embeddedness. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. doi:10.1177/0022427811434830.
Rose, D., & Clear, T. (1998). Incarceration, social capital, and crime: implications for social disorganization theory. Criminology, 36, 441–480.
Rubio, M. (1997). Perverse social capital: some evidence from Columbia. Journal of Economic Issues, 31, 805–816.
Sampson, R., Raudenbush, S., & Earls, F. (1997). Neighborhoods and violent crime: a multilevel study of collective efficacy. Science, 277, 918–924.
Sarnecki, J. (2001). Delinquent networks: youth co-offending in Stockholm. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Schaefer, D., Light, J., Fabes, R., Hanish, L., & Martin, C. (2010). Fundamental principles of network formation among preschool children. Social Networks, 32, 61–71.
Shaw, C., & McKay, H. (1942). Juvenile delinquency in urban areas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Short, J., & Strodtbeck, F. (1965). Group process and gang delinquency. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Stern, M. (2010). Inequality in the internet age: a twenty-first century dilemma. Sociological Inquiry, 80, 28–33.
Thornberry, T., Huizinga, D., & Loeber, R. (2004). The causes and correlates studies: findings and policy implications. Juvenile Justice, 9, 3–19.
Thornberry, T., Krohn, M., Lizotte, A., Smith, C., & Tobin, K. (2003). Gangs and delinquency in developmental perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thrasher, F. (1927). The gang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Tita, G., Cohen, J., & Engberg, J. (2005). An ecological study of the location of gang ‘set space’. Social Problems, 52, 272–299.
Tyler, T. (2002). Is the internet changing social life? It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. Journal of Social Issues, 58, 195–205.
Venkatesh, S. (1997). The social organization of street gang activity in an urban ghetto. The American Journal of Sociology, 103, 83–111.
Vigil, J. (1988). Barrio gangs: street life and identity in southern California. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Weber, M. (1965). The theory of social and economic organization. New York: Free Press.
Whyte, W. (1947). Street corner society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Wilson, W. (1987). The truly disadvantaged. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Zhang, C., Callegaro, M., & Thomas, M. (2008). More than the Digital Divide? Investigating the differences between internet and non-internet users on attitudes and behaviors. Chicago, IL: Midwest Association of Public Opinion Research.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Moule, R.K., Decker, S.H., Pyrooz, D.C. (2013). Social Capital, the Life-Course, and Gangs. In: Gibson, C., Krohn, M. (eds) Handbook of Life-Course Criminology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5113-6_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5113-6_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5112-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5113-6
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)