Examining Intergang Associations through Social Identity Theory

• In Event: Peer and Gang Influences on Delinquency

Abstract

Scholars have long recognized that gang membership does not occur in a vacuum, but is rather characterized by overlapping networks, contexts, and moral codes. Prior work on members’ associations outside the scope of one's gang has focused predominantly on rivalries, violence, and victimization despite the well-established axiom that violence is rare in proportion to all gang activity. Aiming to further inform knowledge of gang cohesion, embeddedness, and desistance, the current paper analyzes extra- and intergang associations within the framework of social identity theory.

Author

• Jenny West-Fagan, University of California, Irvine