This thesis explores the ways in which a group of boys who belong to gangs enact their masculinity. The focus is on African boys' construction of their masculinities within gang cultures at a primary school in Inanda, Durban. The school is an exclusively African co-educational school and predominantly African teaching staff. Data collection involved qualitative methods that primarily include observation and unstructured interviews. These research tools were used to investigate the interrelatedness between violence, gangs, and masculinities. This study demonstrates that young boys in gangs enact violent masculinities which are bound up with issues of race/ethnicity, gender, class, and context in the making of young gang cultures. The performance of violent gang masculinity produced the exaggerated quality of masculine protest, in which violence is employed as a compensation for perceived weakness. This study reveals that gang of boys are enacting masculinity that is oppositional to school's authority by contravening school rules and regulations in multiple ways. This research has indicated that modes of masculinities are shaped, constrained or enabled by gang cultures. Gang boys acted out their protest masculinity in multiple ways. They are anti-school authority, anti-social and undisciplined. The study also demonstrates that there are many socio-economic and political factors that impact negatively on the school such as unemployment, poverty, and violent gang crime. The social, economic and political contexts are therefore crucially important in understanding a multiplicity of masculine identities amongst gang boys at the school under study. Schooling is an important arena where masculinities are enacted in various forms including violent (gang) masculinities. The overall conclusion stemming from the research project is that attempts to reduce violent gang masculinities in the school need to include a gender strategy that tackles gender inequality. In South Africa this could form part of the Life Skills curriculum. Much greater attention needs to be given, in the life skills curriculum and through the ethos of the school as a whole, to promote gender equality and in particular models of masculine identity not predicated on force and violence. / Thesis (M.Ed.) -University of Natal, Durban, 2004.

Much recent UK gang research has failed to adequately answer: do gangs exist and if so, are they organised? internal gang dynamics, criminal behaviours and motivations for joining remain largely unexplored; as does the upsurge in violent crime in gang-affected areas of south London. This research set out to answer these questions by investigating gangs in Lambeth, their activities and the daily experiences of those affiliated to them. The study begins by profiling the case study area, currently prevalent street gangs and links to violent crime. The investigation then examines in detail inter-gang and intragang dynamics and community relationships. A further objective is to establish whether, and if so to what extent, gangs were expanding and becoming more deeply embedded in the neighbourhood. This work situates contemporary UK gang research within the literary arc of classic and contemporary US gang research, from Chicago School to Hagedorn. Current UK studies are categorised into three distinct arguments, then critiqued from a Left Realist perspective. Addressing the question, how do we explain an increase in gang related violence?, the work establishes the gang as a social arena (field) of competition where actors struggle for distinction. But what are the characteristics and boundaries of this social -Field? What motivates young people to enter it, and how do you succeed within it? How significant are personal relationships and networks? What is the role of social capital and how do you become a competent actor in this field? These issues are explored using the theoretical perspectives of social field analysis and habitus from Bourdieu alongside various elements of social capital theory. An inductive ethnometholdogy was adopted. The paper presents findings from 30 qualitative interviews of residents, professionals and gang -affiliated young people in Lambeth. The ethical challenges of gang research, such as access and anonymity are addressed. The findings support the proposition that gangs in south London exist, are active and internally organised into three structural tiers. Success within the field is determined by building and maintaining Street Capital -a tradable asset. To acquire this, members strategise by employing tested techniques from the Gang Repertoire, derived from the habitus. Youngers and Olders employ different Repertoires. All actors within the social field are subject to sanctions with new arrivals at increased risk. The field is highly gendered and girls are central to the gang strategising using information and the gang Network. Importantly the findings support the argument that gangs in Lambeth are evolving and becoming more embedded. Increased gang related violence is an outcome of new dynamics in social field, including the imperative to acquire Street Capital and the role of new technology. Increased tensions and violence have cumulative stressful impacts for young people. To address this, they increasingly risk manage their lives through self exclusion or a fatalistic immersion in the social field.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2007. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 276-289).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1994. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Margaret Terry Orr. Dissertation Committee: Francis A. J. Ianni. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-133).

Thesis (D.Min.)--Asbury Theological Seminary, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 243-249). Also available online.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2007. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 276-289).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 199-206).

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Cette thèse s’attache à analyser, d’un point de vue géopolitique, les conséquences de l’immigration hispanique, qui a massivement touché l’agglomération de Los Angeles à partir des années 1980, sur les relations entre Afro-Américains et Latinos dans la ville de Compton. Il s’agit plus précisément d’évaluer le rôle de l’augmentation de la concentration spatiale des Latinos sur un territoire pauvre, considéré comme une enclave noire dans la dégradation très médiatisée des relations interraciales dans les domaines des gangs et de la politique locale. Nous examinerons dans une première partie les changements socio-Démographiques qui ont affecté Compton depuis sa création. Nous présenterons les deux successions ethniques vécues par la ville ainsi que les contextes socio-Économiques particuliers dans lesquels elles se sont produites. Ceci nous permettra d’introduire les enjeux de la concentration spatiale des immigrés hispaniques et ses conséquences pour le vivre-Ensemble à l’échelle locale. La deuxième partie sera consacrée aux évolutions engendrées par l’immigration dans le domaine des gangs, et notamment à la dégradation des relations entre gangs noirs et latinos. Nous analyserons le renversement du rapport de force numérique entre ces gangs et nous évaluerons le rôle de la question « raciale » dans les tensions.Enfin, nous nous attacherons, dans la troisième partie, à analyser le paradoxe qui frappe aujourd’hui les Latinos de Compton : en dépit d’une supériorité numérique désormais écrasante, ils ne disposaient, jusqu’en juin 2013, d’aucune représentation politique. Nous essayerons d’en comprendre les raisons et d’en évaluer l’impact sur les relations intercommunautaires. / The aim of this dissertation is to provide a geopolitical analysis of the consequences engendered by the massive Hispanic immigration wave that has hit the Los Angeles region from the 1980s onward. We will specifically focus on the impact of the increasing spatial concentration of Latinos in Compton (a poor city traditionally considered as a black enclave) on the highly mediatized deterioration of interracial relations between blacks and Latinos in two specific areas : gangs and local politics.In the first part, we will detail the socio-Demographic changes that have affected Compton over the decades. We will analyze the two ethnic successions that the city went through as well as the specific socio-Economic contexts in which they occurred. This will lead us to introduce the issues at stake and the consequences of the increasing spatial concentration of Hispanic immigrants on race relations at the local level. The second part deals with the consequences of this immigration wave on the relations between black and Latinos gangs. We will describe the shift in the local balance of power and we will assess the racial dimension of this rise in interracial tensions. Lastly, in a third part, we will analyze the paradoxical lack of political representation that characterizes Compton Latinos, in spite of an overwhelming numerical superiority. We will detail the causes of such an absence of political incorporation and evaluate its impact on interracial relations.