A World of Gangs: Armed Young Men and Gangsta Culture
“Street gangs mirror the inhuman ambitions and greed of society’s trendsetters and deities even as they fight to the death over scraps from the table of the international drug trade. But John Hagedorn, characteristically, also finds hope in the contradictory values of outlaw youth—selflessness, solidarity, and love amid cupidity and directionless rage—and he maintains the hope that a culture of resistance will ultimately prevail over the forces of self-destruction. Whether one shares...
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For the more than a billion people who now live in urban slums, gangs are ubiquitous features of daily life. Though still most closely associated with American cities, gangs are an entrenched, worldwide phenomenon that play a significant role in a wide range of activities, from drug dealing to extortion to religious and political violence. In A World of Gangs, John Hagedorn explores this international proliferation of the urban gang as a consequence of the ravages of globalization.Looking closely at gang formation in three world cities-Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, and Capetown-he discovers that some gangs have institutionalized as a strategy to confront a hopeless cycle of poverty, racism, and oppression. In particular, Hagedorn reveals, the nihilistic appeal of gangsta rap and its street ethic of survival "by any means necessary" provides vital insights into the ideology and persistence of gangs around the world.This groundbreaking work concludes on a hopeful note. Proposing ways in which gangs might be encouraged to overcome their violent tendencies, Hagedorn appeals to community leaders to use the urgency, outrage, and resistance common to both gang life and hip-hop in order to bring gangs into broader movements for social justice. Publishers Weekly Hagedorn (People and Folks), a scholar of gangland culture for more than 20 years, contends that gangs have existed since the Roman Republic and will continue to thrive as long as globalization continues to create untenable situations for the urban poor. Hagedorn surveys street gangs from Mumbai, Paris, L.A., Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and 15th-century Florence, examining the role race and ethnicity play in gang formation (the white Gaylords of Chicago, the Latin Kings) and how the gang itself can be regarded as an alternative social institution, providing protection and economic opportunities for neglected populations. Hagedorn's description of gangs as institutionalized "living organisms" explains why they are so difficult to eradicate. Although Hagedorn is an undeniable authority on the topic and has logged plenty of face time with gang members, his work relies rather heavily on analyzing academic studies as opposed to providing in-depth descriptions of his own firsthand observations. His focus on old school "gangsta rap" also reveals a slight disconnect from his youthful subjects, as he refers to passé artists such as Cypress Hill as popular modern-day performers. While Hagedorn has produced a well-organized, well-researched and sensitive study, readers hungry for more ethnographic accounts should turn to Sudhir Venkatesh's Gang Leader for a Day. (May)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Foreword: Reading John Hagedorn Mike Davis Davis, MikeIntroduction Why Are Gangs Everywhere?I Globalizing Gangs1 Ghetto, Favela, and Township: The Worlds Gangs Live In 32 Street Institutions: Why Some Gangs Won't Go Away 113 The Problem with Definitions: The Questionable Uniqueness of Gangs 234 From Chicago to Mumbai: Touring the World of Gangs 33II Race, Space, and the Power of Identity5 No Way Out: Demoralization, Racism, and Resistance Identity 536 A Tale of Two Gangs: The Hamburgs and the Conservative Vice Lords 657 Reconsidering Culture: Race, Rap, and Resistance 858 Street Wars: Hip-Hop and the Rise of Gangsta Culture 939 Contested Cities: Gentrification and the Ghetto 113Conclusion: A Rose in the Cracks of Concrete 131Notes 145Index 181
\ Publishers WeeklyHagedorn (People and Folks), a scholar of gangland culture for more than 20 years, contends that gangs have existed since the Roman Republic and will continue to thrive as long as globalization continues to create untenable situations for the urban poor. Hagedorn surveys street gangs from Mumbai, Paris, L.A., Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and 15th-century Florence, examining the role race and ethnicity play in gang formation (the white Gaylords of Chicago, the Latin Kings) and how the gang itself can be regarded as an alternative social institution, providing protection and economic opportunities for neglected populations. Hagedorn's description of gangs as institutionalized "living organisms" explains why they are so difficult to eradicate. Although Hagedorn is an undeniable authority on the topic and has logged plenty of face time with gang members, his work relies rather heavily on analyzing academic studies as opposed to providing in-depth descriptions of his own firsthand observations. His focus on old school "gangsta rap" also reveals a slight disconnect from his youthful subjects, as he refers to passé artists such as Cypress Hill as popular modern-day performers. While Hagedorn has produced a well-organized, well-researched and sensitive study, readers hungry for more ethnographic accounts should turn to Sudhir Venkatesh's Gang Leader for a Day. (May)\ Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.\ \
