Thesis (MTech (Education and Social Sciences))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-101). Also available online.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-83).

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.(Social Work and Criminology))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-83) Also available in print.

abstract: The literature on hopelessness suggests youth living amid impoverished conditions, social disorganization, and limited resources are more likely to experience increased feelings of hopelessness. Similarly, many of the aforementioned aspects are considered, in some capacity, in the research on gangs. Though a considerable amount of gang literature alludes to the fact that loss of hope may be present, it neither directly addresses it nor references it. This study attempts to converge the present literature on hopelessness among minority youth to minority youth in street gangs. This is done using data obtained from an earlier evaluation of the Mesa Gang Intervention Project, using self-report data from 197 youth, asking questions about socio-demographic information, gang activity, education, employment, crime and delinquency, family and individual crisis, and self-reported detention. Findings implicate a connection exists between gang membership and increased levels of hopelessness. Moreover, results suggest education and self-esteem help to reduce loss of hopelessness. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Criminology and Criminal Justice 2011

Despite the rich history of gang research in the United States, Asian gangs remain arelatively understudied group. While early investigations have teased out factors associated withentry and exit among these individuals, the vast majority of these accounts focused specificallyon Chinese and Vietnamese gang members in California and New York. Consequently, it isunclear whether these findings hold true for Asian gang members residing in other states and ofdifferent ethnic background, such as the Hmong (a highland tribal people from the mountains ofLaos). In an effort to address this empirical gap, this study relied on life-history interviews andethnographic observations with 34 current and former Hmong gang members from California,Minnesota, and Wisconsin to uncover the motivations and methods associated with entry,persistence, and exit. Overall, findings mirrored much of what has been documented amongother racial and ethnic gangs; that is, participants expressed similar reasons for joining, staying,and leaving. However, findings also indicated that Hmong gang members demonstrate a greaterand more genuine level of bonding—an observation that has also been noted among Vietnamesegang members. Moreover, there was evidence of geographic variations associated with joiningand staying between California and Wisconsin participants. In an effort to theoreticallycontextualize participants’ experiences (i.e. entry, persistence, and exit), this study utilized asymbolic interactionist framework—social structures, meaning-making, and identity—given itsemergence through the modified grounded theory approach to data collection and analysis. As aresult of these efforts, several theoretical and policy implications emerged and were discussed.

One of the more speculative tasks of this book is to assess what impact those gangs are likely to have on the changes urban South Africa will undergo in the last two decades of the 20th Century, be it peaceful, reactionary or revolutionary. A rather more immediate task, and a necessary precursor, is to explore the functions of these gangs and the causes of their existence. But this immediately leads us into wider and deeper areas, to poverty, social dislocation and strategies of class defence. And within and beyond these conditions can be found an ongoing struggle for survival, a class struggle, and the outline of the state itself. (It is here that one encounters a strange paradox: a system which upholds law and order while at the same time creating the preconditions for its breakdown.) But we must start with the street gangs. A count in 30 areas on the Cape Flats during 1982 found in daily existence 280 groups who identified themselves as gangs. Nearly 80 per cent of the gang members interviewed for this study said their group was more than 100 strong, 54 per cent put the figure at 200 and several as high as 2000. An extremely rough estimate gives a figure of 50,000 youths who would define themselves as gang members, or about five per cent of the city's total population.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.