Gang activity and membership were noted to be significantly related to financial rewards. As such, gang membership and gang activity should also be understood from an economic perspective. In this article, Pierre Bourdieu's framework of capital is used to analyze two separate samples of Latino and Asian gang members. Stark contrasts in socioeconomic backgrounds are recorded among the two samples of gang members, and gang membership and activities are also noticeably dissimilar. Accessibility to economic, cultural, and social capital is argued to affect gang membership and activities. The results suggest that the availability of legitimate and illegitimate capital greatly affects the trajectory and the length of gang involvement. Also, gangs provide significant material and social capital for the respondents of the study.
Keywordsgangs; Asian; Latino; Bourdieu; capital Gang research has experienced notable advancement throughout the twentieth century. A great deal of understanding on gangs, gang members, and the favorable social conditions that generate gangs has been analyzed through a variety of theoretical assumptions and strategies: alienation and conflict with mainstream society (Lopez and O'Donnell
Alcohol and illicit drug abuse is a serious problem among male Latino gang members. Research indicates that gang members increase their drug use while they are members, and use more drugs after they leave the gangs. This manuscript reports on data reflecting the influences of individual, familial, peer, and community factors on the number of drug use transitions that Latino gang members undergo during their drug using careers. Data from this study were collected from interviews conducted with seventy-six active Latino gang members. The study's results indicate that age at the time of interview and lower age of drug onset were associated with a greater number of drug use transitions. Positive family attitudes toward deviance, friend drug use, school truancy, conflict with parents, and living in neighborhoods with a high level of crime were also found to be associated with increased drug use transitions.
Joining a gang increases an adolescent's risk for substance abuse. To better understand the contextual development of drug use behavior, this retrospective ethnographic study describes a sample of 76 young small-city mainland Puerto-Rican and Dominican males who joined gangs when they were younger. Data is presented and discussed on the drug abuse behavior including their drug using progression and the context in which such use occurs. The young average age of onset 11.2 (sd = 2.6) combined with the rapid progression to more dangerous drugs, which generally occurs within six years, demonstrates the elevated risk associated with small city gang membership. Differences in the patterns of drug use were also found between the English and Spanish speaking groups. The authors discuss the implications of the study findings on the development of interventions. Recommendations address future research possibilities on drug abuse within Latino gangs.
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