Critical Approaches to Gangs

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of how critical approaches have contributed to criminological research on gangs. Besides discussing the intellectual history of critical approaches to gang research, this chapter explores the relationship between gangs and politics and foregrounds how critical gang studies have been attentive to questions of power, racism, and inequality when researching gangs. Critical gang scholars view gangs as the product of specific historical contexts that are shaped by socioeconomic, cultural, and political currents over time. The chapter concludes with a brief reflection on critique and how critical approaches can contribute to criminological thought on gangs in the future.