<p>Abstract</p><p>The main objective of this essay is to come to an understanding as to why girls, together in groups, walk against the conventional image of women and take on more violent and aggressive behaviour against their surroundings. In this essay I hope to gain an understanding of how ‘girl gangs’ work as a social phenomenon as well as identify the characteristics of these gangs. Furthermore, this essay aims to understand what role the violence and aggression plays in the lives of these girl’s.</p><p>The following questions are the focus of the essay:</p><p>• Why have girls in groups become more aggressive and violent?</p><p>• What is characteristic for “the girl gangs” as a social phenomenon?</p><p>• What role does the girls’ aggressive behaviour play in their life?</p><p>The essay touches on an escalating problem within society, which has received considerable attention in the media lately. To achieve the objective of this essay I have used a qualitative research approach. This since the subject is a relatively unexplored problem. The empirical material has been collected with help of six semi-structured interviews. One of those interviews was with a girl who, in the past, was an active member of a “girl gang” herself. The other five were with professionals who worked with the girls in different ways, such as police officers and social workers. The information from these interviews gave me a more comprehensive picture of where the sources of the problems could have originated from and each and every one of them contributed with details to make my research more complete and accurate.</p><p>To be able to interpret and analyze the empirical material and come to a better understanding of the phenomenon “girl gang” I have used the information from the interviews as a guide to help me to choose among different sociological theories. Theories I have used are, Axel Honneths theory about recognition, Johan Asplunds theory about socially responsive people, Iris Marion Young’s theories concerning differences between boys and girls and the way they behave and Thomas Ziehés study regarding the way teenagers are able to create and form their own identity and future.</p><p>The result of the studies shows that these groups of girls have developed significantly more violent and aggressive behaviour against their surroundings. But it’s incorrect to define the problem as “girl gangs” a more accurate name would be girls in groups. The girls’ use of violence has reached new proportions. Previously crimes committed by girls were predominantly crimes such as shoplifting, but present date crimes are more commonly robbery and assault.</p><p>Generally these girls experience problems in their relationships with their immediate families. As a result the girls look for attention, acceptance and recognition from other sources. In a group, the girls receive recognition and feel solidarity when they act out various violent actions. The girls react quickly to major or minor insult; in some cases they even perform their abuse completely unprovoked. These girls are desperate for recognition and attention from others and one way for them to achieve this is through criminal violent activity.</p><p>Key words; girls, crime, violence, recognition</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA/oai:DiVA.org:oru-821 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Gustavsson, Maria |
| Publisher | Örebro University, Department of Social and Political Sciences |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, text |
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