Gangbangs and Drive-Bys: Grounded Culture and Juvenile Gang Violence

by William Sanders

Overview

This study, based on quantitative and qualitative data gathered over a twelve-year period, takes its title from the two predominant styles of gang violence: 'drive-bys,' which have replaced 'rumbles' as the primary form of gang violence; and 'gang-bangs' - a generic term for other gang violence that includes assaults, knifings, and beatings.The author attempts to understand the situations in which a young man would drive up to another human being and, without further ado, blow his head off. By examining hundreds of such situations, and employing both structural and phenomenological analysis, Sanders explores the various configurations of gang violence.Gangbangs and Drive-bys also examines the routines of gang members and their view of life, the different styles of gangs, and changes undergone by gangs from the early 1980s to the end of the same decade. Over that period, the emphasis shifted from parties and paybacks to big money from the sale of rock cocaine, and from unstructured to organized crime. Along with that shift came an increase in the violence.Finally, Sanders traces the beginning and evolution of a metropolitan police gang unit over the same decade in order to present an inside view of how the police attempt to deal with and understand gangs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780202305370
Publisher:	Transaction Publishers
Publication date:	12/31/1994
Series:	Social Problems & Social Issues
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	212
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1250L (what's this?)

About the Author

William B. Sanders is Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas, El Paso. Dr. Sanders began studying gangs in San Diego, Great Britan, and El Paso during the 1980s. He has published Detective Work (a C. Wright Mills Award Nominee), Rape and Women’s Identity, and eight other books in sociology.

Table of Contents

1: Introduction: The Problem; 2: Situations and Gang Violence; 3: Patterns of Gang Violence; 4: Drive-Bys; 5: Gangbangs; 6: Other Types of Gang Violence; 7: Mexican-American Gang Styles; 8: African-American Gang Styles; 9: Other Youth Gangs; 10: Police Operations and Gangs

Editorial Reviews

[T]he book is informative. A useful addition to the literature on youth gangs. All levels.” —D. Harper, Choice “Gangs have reappeared in the sociological literature and the public debate. This book focuses on the situations in which gang members construct violent confrontations… In examining the very important topic of the violent situation, Sanders has gone to the scene of violent incidents with the special police gang unit in San Diego to try to reconstruct what happened… [E]xamination of the situation and the process permits us to understand better how different groups who currently live in similar socioeconomic circumstances construct distinctive situations in which violence occurs, and it demonstrates that gaps exist between more macrolevel structures and violent activities of gangs. This is a welcome addition to the gang literature because it focuses on microlevel processes and the construction of violence.” —Ruth Horowitz, Contemporary Sociology “[W]e learned something about gangbanging and drive-bys from this book.” —Daniel Monti, Social Forces

From the Publisher