Gang Lives
Through biographical investigations of gang members' life histories, this open access book illustrates the range of causes, motivations, and consequences associated with being a gang member. Gangs are one of a small number of truly global social phenomena, present across time and space all over the...
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| Format: | Online |
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Bloomsbury Publishing (UK)
2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | ONIX_20260621T103019_9781350525085_41 |
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| _version_ | 1869521038986969088 |
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| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | Through biographical investigations of gang members' life histories, this open access book illustrates the range of causes, motivations, and consequences associated with being a gang member. Gangs are one of a small number of truly global social phenomena, present across time and space all over the world. Partly as a result of this ubiquity, gangs are inherently revealing social institutions, and can be connected to a range of fundamental human activities, such as the exercise of power, capital accumulation, socialization, identity formation, territorialization, or the articulation of gender relations, amongst others. At the same time, however, gangs are also frequently associated with an almost pathological form of violence, generally represented as engaging in senseless forms of brutality, and gangsters are popular global scapegoats. Such representations make it all the more urgent to understand what it is that truly motivates individuals to become gang members, why they undergo particular trajectories, and what the long-term consequences of gang membership might be. Through a comparison of thirteen life histories of gang members from twelve different countries around the world, this book offers a nuanced and sensitive overview of the global gang experience. Life histories are ideal lenses through which to explore these issues due to their ability to simultaneously reflect both the uniqueness and the embedded complexity of gang lives, but also their capacity to offer fundamentally relatable portraits that elicit empathy and humanize individuals. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the European Research Council grant (no. 787935). |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-177847 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) |
| publisherStr | Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1778472026-06-22T05:20:42Z Gang Lives Rodgers, Dennis Gang Gangster Life histories Biography Criminology thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKV Crime and criminology::JKVM Organized crime thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKV Crime and criminology::JKVC Causes and prevention of crime thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKV Crime and criminology::JKVJ Street crime thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBF Social and ethical issues::JBFK Violence and abuse in society thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKV Crime and criminology Through biographical investigations of gang members' life histories, this open access book illustrates the range of causes, motivations, and consequences associated with being a gang member. Gangs are one of a small number of truly global social phenomena, present across time and space all over the world. Partly as a result of this ubiquity, gangs are inherently revealing social institutions, and can be connected to a range of fundamental human activities, such as the exercise of power, capital accumulation, socialization, identity formation, territorialization, or the articulation of gender relations, amongst others. At the same time, however, gangs are also frequently associated with an almost pathological form of violence, generally represented as engaging in senseless forms of brutality, and gangsters are popular global scapegoats. Such representations make it all the more urgent to understand what it is that truly motivates individuals to become gang members, why they undergo particular trajectories, and what the long-term consequences of gang membership might be. Through a comparison of thirteen life histories of gang members from twelve different countries around the world, this book offers a nuanced and sensitive overview of the global gang experience. Life histories are ideal lenses through which to explore these issues due to their ability to simultaneously reflect both the uniqueness and the embedded complexity of gang lives, but also their capacity to offer fundamentally relatable portraits that elicit empathy and humanize individuals. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the European Research Council grant (no. 787935). 2026-06-22T05:20:41Z 2026-06-22T05:20:41Z 2026-06-21T09:14:21Z 2026 book book ONIX_20260621T103019_9781350525085_41 https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350525092?locatt=label:secondary_bloomsburyCollections https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/114167 9781350525085 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/177847 eng open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/114167/1/9781350525085.pdf Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) Bloomsbury Academic b7fec79e-c133-4cb3-9544-88060a4d4e06 9781350525085 Bloomsbury Academic 288 London open access |
| spellingShingle | Gang Gangster Life histories Biography Criminology thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKV Crime and criminology::JKVM Organized crime thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKV Crime and criminology::JKVC Causes and prevention of crime thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKV Crime and criminology::JKVJ Street crime thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBF Social and ethical issues::JBFK Violence and abuse in society thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKV Crime and criminology Gang Lives |
| title | Gang Lives |
| title_full | Gang Lives |
| title_fullStr | Gang Lives |
| title_full_unstemmed | Gang Lives |
| title_short | Gang Lives |
| title_sort | gang lives |
| topic | Gang Gangster Life histories Biography Criminology thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKV Crime and criminology::JKVM Organized crime thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKV Crime and criminology::JKVC Causes and prevention of crime thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKV Crime and criminology::JKVJ Street crime thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBF Social and ethical issues::JBFK Violence and abuse in society thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKV Crime and criminology |
| topic_facet | Gang Gangster Life histories Biography Criminology thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKV Crime and criminology::JKVM Organized crime thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKV Crime and criminology::JKVC Causes and prevention of crime thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKV Crime and criminology::JKVJ Street crime thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHB Sociology thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBF Social and ethical issues::JBFK Violence and abuse in society thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JK Social services and welfare, criminology::JKV Crime and criminology |
| url | ONIX_20260621T103019_9781350525085_41 |