On the relationship between gangs and social organization

Abstract

The present paper goes beyond Monti’s (1996) critique of the “social disorganization†hypothesis regarding gangs in the United States and the research and theorizing based on it. Advanced is an alternative hypothesis that finds gangs structure and behavior fitting in with established customs and organizational routines in American society. The model for this alternative hypothesis is found in the work of Tilly et al (1975) who looked at the relation between routine and non-routine collective actions in European societies for several hundred years. Our convention understanding of gang structures and behavior in the United States does not parallel what Tilly et al found in some instances. However, the basic point that groups like gangs do reflect or mimic more conferential customs and organizational routines shows greater promise for helping us to understand U.S gangs than does this “social Organization†hypothesis advanced by American social scientist.