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The Fight For Survival:African‐American gang members and their families in a segregated society
Author(s) -
Brown William B.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
juvenile and family court journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.155
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1755-6988
pISSN - 0161-7109
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-6988.1998.tb00777.x
Subject(s) - african american , poverty , criminology , racial group , political science , sociology , psychology , race (biology) , gender studies , ethnology , law
ABSTRACT We can no longer trivialize, or ignore, the impact of structural impediments, racial discrimination, and racial segregation in our analysis of African‐American youth gangs in America's inner cities. These issues set a stage where 79 African‐American youngsters view their gang affiliation as a means for survival. The present study, conducted over a four‐year period, explores structural and racial barriers that many African‐Americans, parents and children, encounter regularly. The participants, gang members and their parents, reveal their frustrations about the lack of opportunities for many inner city African‐Americans, their experiences as targets of racial discrimination and segregation, and their confinement to deteriorating, poverty‐stricken neighborhoods in Detroit.