Gangs

1. Gangs

2. The Social Institutional Perspective • A social institution consists of a group of people organized to achieve a unique goal. • A social institutional perspective is one which views communities as a collection of these social institutions and views the residents of the community as their members. Where social institutions are present and healthy, sociologists speak of social organization. Where they are non-existent or weak, we speak of social disorganization.

3. Gang members are most commonly found living in socially disorganized neighborhoods.

4. informal controls exist which reduce the likelihood of gang formation family members school personnel faith community leaders

5. justice system required to impose its formal social control through arrests, formal processing, and court mandated treatment and punishment

6. Gang member origins • there is a body of research which suggests a disproportionate number of gang members come from single-parent families, or they don't have parents, or their parents are less-than-desirable role models (i.e., participating in child abuse, violence, involved in substance abuse or gangs)

7. There is a great deal of attention being focused today on gangs, gang members, and their associates

8. Preventing gang formation child abuse absent or dysfunctional parents substance abuse school failure