Alistair Fraser takes a look at youth gangs in the ‘mean city’ of Glasgow, and uses a historical perspective to show that adult fears over unruly groups of youths are nothing new. He describes his own ethnographic study of one particular group of young men. The article makes the interesting point that societal fears about and reaction to ‘gangs’ is particularly prevalent in periods of social change and upheaval, when adult members of society feel threatened. Fraser also connects the study of gangs to issues of power, social class and inequality. This provides very useful material for the topic of ‘Crime and Deviance’, but also raises issues concerning the mass media and social policy.
youth gangs, territorial violence, societal reaction
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