Gangs
Introduction
Gangs are groups of individuals who tend to polarize to persons that are more or less have the same aspects as the individuals. Due to the fact that humans are highly adaptable, many cultures differ. But in the situation where a person has the need to belong, diversity is not often a virtue to be proud of. Sometimes, it is better to be part of a group and to conform. In the context of this paper, aspects of conformity and group polarization shall be discussed and its relation to gang formation and the role of gender in the formation of gangs.
Discussion
As was mentioned, gangs are groups of individuals who polarize with people who more or less share the same interests as them. But in modern times, gangs often have negative connotations. Gangs are groups of people who hold their respective territories and are readily available to fight against other gangs. Most often gangs are noted as criminal groups.
According to Wikipedia, there are four main descriptions of Gangs. These are:
Ø "Durable" Many gang-like groups come together and dissipate within a few months. The durability refers to the group, which continues despite turnover of members.
Ø "Street-oriented" implies spending a lot of group time outside home, work, and school—often on streets, in malls, in parks, in cars, and so on.
Ø "Youth" can be ambiguous. Most street gangs are more adolescent than adult, but some include members in their 20s and even 30s. Most have average ages in adolescence or early 20s.
Ø "Illegal" generally mean gangs which will get you in trouble. New laws proposed in some states define criminal gangs as groups of individuals who engage in patterns of coordinated illegal activity (, 2007).
In psychological aspects, we can point out many factors why people join gangs. Conformity is one of the factors that can be attributed to gangs. Conformity is the change in behavior and belief to accord with others. But conformity is not just acting based on how others act. It is being affected by how others act. It is acting differently from how a person acts alone. Also, there are several varieties of conformity (, 2000). Two types of conformity are compliance and acceptance. Compliance is conformity that involves acting in accord with implied or explicit request while privately disagreeing. And acceptance is conformity which involves both acting and believing in accord with social pressure. This can be related to the aspect of gangs due to the fact that many people often want to be part of a group or accepted. Sometimes, people genuinely believe what their group convinced them to do so. But why do people conform? The first possibility is, the person may choose to conform to the group in order to be accepted and not rejected; and to gain important information. The first possibility is called normative influence while the second is called informational influence ( and , 1955). Normative influence is “going along with the crowd” to avoid rejection, to stay in people’s good graces and to gain their approval. In laboratory and in everyday life, groups often reject those who consistently deviate ( and , 1979). This is especially so when dissent is not just “within the family”, but when one’s group is engaged with another group ( and , 2003). Sometimes, the high price of deviation compels people to support what they do not believe in or at least suppress their disagreement. Normative influence leads to compliance especially for people who have recently seen others ridiculed or who are seeking to climb a high status ladder ( and , 2000). Many people are forced to accept the views presented by others in order to “fit in”. This is usually the case for people who join gangs. People are born with their own beliefs and principles. But the decision to uphold these principles and beliefs are often altered and challenged if they had already felt the depressing feeling of rejection and ridicule. In order to find a group to “belong to” and an identity, people are forced to succumb to believe things which are more or less, against their principles. In the case of gangs, this is the deciding factor for people who join gangs.
Men are found to be more prone to joining gangs due to the fact that men are more likely to be inclined to sensitivity on the issue of inacceptance. Women however, are less prone to joining gangs due to the fact that females are more often than not used to the idea of autonomy and are more able to bounce back against tides of inacceptance.
Strain Theory
According to the by , “people who commit crimes have basically the same values as everyone else. Primarily among these values is an emphasis on achievement and success.” Basing on this theory, we can say that people may join gangs because of the fact that many people want to have access to success but they have limited capacity to do so. But when they join gangs, they have the possibility of achieving success which normally would not be available to them.
Labeling theory
This theory is much concerned with the idea of becoming how others label you. If one is categorized as evil by the society, he is most likely to act that way, since he was already pushed into being like that. Then it is most likely that the person would choose to be like that, rather than prove them wrong. This once again proves the idea of conformity. Also, the person, especially when in groups or cliques, tends to sway more along the group rather than against it. So if the group decides to deviate against the society, then the person in question has no other option but to move with them.
Subculture theory
According to the subculture theory, a subculture, present within a culture may have its own principles and beliefs which may be deemed incorrect by the mother culture, due to the fact that it deviates from the mother culture. According to some research, a poor zone within a city may produce a subculture which can become norms and soon is part of that zones culture. This may not be of good nature since it may involve actions which are not necessarily correct in the eyes of the majority.
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