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.Gangs historically have been linked to violence, one of the ways through whichcontrol of territory is imposed and maintained.Here again there are signs of chang-ing patterns.Important forms of contemporary urban violence, such as the burningof cars in French cities in October 2005, alert us to the extent of urban segregationand stigmatization in France and other European cities.The core of this violencetook place in poor neighborhoods where the industrial working class has largelydisappeared, and where informal and temporary employment rivals the illegal econ-omy as the main source of income.In these suburbs while there are patterns of con-frontation between small groups who defend their territory against others, the largestructured groups typical of the gangs of industrial society are absent.Forms of or-ganization are much more fragile, while action takes the form of social explosionrather than the ongoing organization that characterized gangs of industrial society.Similar patterns of segregation are emerging in Britain, most obvious in the north-ern cities of England, where different groups find themselves competing for control GANGS AND THE MEDIA 85of the same spaces.But in the contemporary context, these young people do not fallback onto defending traditional community cultures, instead they increasingly em-brace dimensions of global culture from hip-hop music to forms of politicized Islam,these constructions involving travel and extensive use of the Internet.In these cases,what is particularly important are personal trajectories, often involving born again type experiences.These young people do not embrace traditional cultures or ethnicidentities, but increasingly look to mobilize global cultures that create distance bothfrom their parents generation and the dominant culture political Islam being themost obvious example of such a global culture.At times this dynamic can spill intonew types of violence represented by contemporary terrorism: there is now signifi-cant evidence suggesting that at least two of the young men involved in the terroristbombing in London of July 7, 2005, had been involved in an Asian gang which hadbeen involved in defending its territory against white youths, organizing physical fit-ness and fighting classes, as well being involved in muscled approaches to helpingyoung people get off heroin.In the 1980s, the studies of urban gangs in emerging global cities undertaken byManuel Castells suggested that as global fl ows became more and more important,new forms of defensive gangs would emerge and attempt to control local spaces.Unable to shape the global world, Castells argued, new types of gangs would emergeand build up walls around territories they could control.Castells s analysis of theglobal cities was prescient, but the emerging forms of urban action that we are wit-nessing today do not take the form of the defense of a territory, but more and moretake the form of entering the increasingly diverging global flows that constitute theglobal city.This can take the form of visual flows, new mobilities of people, and newforms of global identity constructed against both community and national society.Inthat sense the turf of contemporary gangs is shifting: from the street corner toglobal fl ows.This shift will be at the center of gang research as we move into thetwenty-first century.References/Suggested Readings: Castells, M.1983.The City and the Grassroots.Berkley:California University Press; Castells, M.1997.The Power of Identity.Malden, MA: Black-well; McDonald, K.1999.Struggles for Subjectivity: Identity, Action and Youth Experience.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; Whyte, W.1943.Street Corner Society.Chicago:University of Chicago Press.KEVIN MCDONALDGANGS AND THE MEDIA.The process of demonization and criminalization hasbeen repeatedly analyzed by sociologists and criminologists who have pointed to thegovernment-media stereotyping of young inner-city populations as a practice stretch-ing back through much of this century (Gilbert, 1986).What many of the studieshave found is that the violent, bestial, and primitivistic imagery of gang youths (Con-quergood, 1992) have been constant themes in crime and community reports andplay a powerful role in constructing the symbolic reality for a mass audience, mostof whom have little real contact with actual gang members.In effect, such reportinghas been an effective tool in fueling if not creating moral panics (Cohen, 1972) atvarious stages of the economic cycle, reflected in successive waves of anti-gang legis-lation at local, state, and federal levels.Thus, around such populist concerns asurban decay, rising immigrant populations, juvenile crime, the drug culture, failingpublic schools, and youth immorality, gangs have been tagged (Young, 1971) as a 86 GANGS AND THE MEDIAleading contributory factor rather than as a primary symptom of a broader set ofstructural contradictions.In contemporary terms gang representatives appear inlengthy feature articles as well as television investigative reports where the semioticequation amounts to gangs = violence = drugs = gang name.In Erikson s (1966) terms, the use of such enemies is an effort by the dominantorder to restore society s social boundaries by ensuring that the threatening Other ismanaged and brought into line (Spitzer, 1975) [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Gangs historically have been linked to violence, one of the ways through whichcontrol of territory is imposed and maintained.Here again there are signs of chang-ing patterns.Important forms of contemporary urban violence, such as the burningof cars in French cities in October 2005, alert us to the extent of urban segregationand stigmatization in France and other European cities.The core of this violencetook place in poor neighborhoods where the industrial working class has largelydisappeared, and where informal and temporary employment rivals the illegal econ-omy as the main source of income.In these suburbs while there are patterns of con-frontation between small groups who defend their territory against others, the largestructured groups typical of the gangs of industrial society are absent.Forms of or-ganization are much more fragile, while action takes the form of social explosionrather than the ongoing organization that characterized gangs of industrial society.Similar patterns of segregation are emerging in Britain, most obvious in the north-ern cities of England, where different groups find themselves competing for control GANGS AND THE MEDIA 85of the same spaces.But in the contemporary context, these young people do not fallback onto defending traditional community cultures, instead they increasingly em-brace dimensions of global culture from hip-hop music to forms of politicized Islam,these constructions involving travel and extensive use of the Internet.In these cases,what is particularly important are personal trajectories, often involving born again type experiences.These young people do not embrace traditional cultures or ethnicidentities, but increasingly look to mobilize global cultures that create distance bothfrom their parents generation and the dominant culture political Islam being themost obvious example of such a global culture.At times this dynamic can spill intonew types of violence represented by contemporary terrorism: there is now signifi-cant evidence suggesting that at least two of the young men involved in the terroristbombing in London of July 7, 2005, had been involved in an Asian gang which hadbeen involved in defending its territory against white youths, organizing physical fit-ness and fighting classes, as well being involved in muscled approaches to helpingyoung people get off heroin.In the 1980s, the studies of urban gangs in emerging global cities undertaken byManuel Castells suggested that as global fl ows became more and more important,new forms of defensive gangs would emerge and attempt to control local spaces.Unable to shape the global world, Castells argued, new types of gangs would emergeand build up walls around territories they could control.Castells s analysis of theglobal cities was prescient, but the emerging forms of urban action that we are wit-nessing today do not take the form of the defense of a territory, but more and moretake the form of entering the increasingly diverging global flows that constitute theglobal city.This can take the form of visual flows, new mobilities of people, and newforms of global identity constructed against both community and national society.Inthat sense the turf of contemporary gangs is shifting: from the street corner toglobal fl ows.This shift will be at the center of gang research as we move into thetwenty-first century.References/Suggested Readings: Castells, M.1983.The City and the Grassroots.Berkley:California University Press; Castells, M.1997.The Power of Identity.Malden, MA: Black-well; McDonald, K.1999.Struggles for Subjectivity: Identity, Action and Youth Experience.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; Whyte, W.1943.Street Corner Society.Chicago:University of Chicago Press.KEVIN MCDONALDGANGS AND THE MEDIA.The process of demonization and criminalization hasbeen repeatedly analyzed by sociologists and criminologists who have pointed to thegovernment-media stereotyping of young inner-city populations as a practice stretch-ing back through much of this century (Gilbert, 1986).What many of the studieshave found is that the violent, bestial, and primitivistic imagery of gang youths (Con-quergood, 1992) have been constant themes in crime and community reports andplay a powerful role in constructing the symbolic reality for a mass audience, mostof whom have little real contact with actual gang members.In effect, such reportinghas been an effective tool in fueling if not creating moral panics (Cohen, 1972) atvarious stages of the economic cycle, reflected in successive waves of anti-gang legis-lation at local, state, and federal levels.Thus, around such populist concerns asurban decay, rising immigrant populations, juvenile crime, the drug culture, failingpublic schools, and youth immorality, gangs have been tagged (Young, 1971) as a 86 GANGS AND THE MEDIAleading contributory factor rather than as a primary symptom of a broader set ofstructural contradictions.In contemporary terms gang representatives appear inlengthy feature articles as well as television investigative reports where the semioticequation amounts to gangs = violence = drugs = gang name.In Erikson s (1966) terms, the use of such enemies is an effort by the dominantorder to restore society s social boundaries by ensuring that the threatening Other ismanaged and brought into line (Spitzer, 1975) [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]