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Beyond social reproduction

Bringing resistance back in gang theory

CUNY Graduate Center, USA

Researchers and theorists have described violent street gang subcultures in the USA as a response to the intersecting forces of marginalization inflicted on minority communities. Most gang scholars agree that the urban youth street gang is the quintessential example of social reproduction at work. While evidence can be mustered to defend such a position, it is important to consider how street gangs may constitute counter-hegemonic forms of both individual and collective resistance. In this article, I concentrate on the theoretical questions posed by such a perspective. My argument is that the open-ended view of earlier criminologists has been discarded and a pathological view of gang behavior holds sway. While this latter perspective may apply to some gangs, it does not pertain to all such subcultures. Based on my own and other studies, I advocate a return to resistance-based theory informed by literatures not normally consulted in gang criminology.

Key Words: late modernity • positivism • resistance • social reproduction • street organization • subcultural theory • the gang

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