ABSTRACT
The chapter provides a short overview of some of the major theories in the study of gangs and organized crime groups. We have not provided a simplistic summary of all criminological theories as they might pertain to, or could conceivably be interpreted as apply to, gangs. Theories examining both how the gangs as a group came to be and theories about the gang as an economic enterprise are presented. While gangs existed in the United States long before the 1920s, it was the 1920s before American criminologists like Thrasher (1927) began to look at groups of criminals as a group rather than as individual criminals. It was Merton (1938) who began to look at gangs as an economic enterprise that engaged in criminality as an alternate road to success in American society.
The theories presented in this chapter show that the gangs are groups with a set of common interests that are tribal in nature. Due to the wide geographical differences in the areas that the gangs formed in, there is no set gang leadership structure. Some gangs exhibit a hierarchal leadership structure that is almost stratified (especially Chicago based street gangs, outlaw motorcycle gangs, triads, etc.). Others are almost anarchistic in their lack of an established, well-defined leadership structure (Los Angeles based street gangs). Both types of gang structures are largely paternalistic. Almost all gangs engage in crime to make money as an alternative means to success. The gangs in these self-affiliated urban tribes engage in a pseudo-warrior culture that routinely uses violence or the threat of violence to achieve their desired ends.
What this chapter demonstrates is a diversity of approaches to the understanding of gangs. Along with this comes a range of research approaches that have been used. The analysis of gangs has also represented a theoretical and social policy focus. These contributions must be considered to understand the history and evolution of gangs in society.
