I just finished reading Gang Leader for a Day, by Sudhir Venkatesh, as recommended to me. A fascinating read; it was a story of a sociologist who becomes close with a gang in Chicago and studies poverty and community from this vantage point.
What I found most interesting about the story was how the gang operated much like another enterprise or legal business and this underground enterprise's interactions with the local community. There were officials, ranks, seniority, and politics. Gang members were expected to graduate high school in order to stay in the gang and have a chance at a higher rank. Much of the local community has a love/hate relationship with the gang. They need the gang to regulate activity in the community, support neighborhood services and businesses, and throw parties, but they also have to pay taxes to the gang, and put up with disruptions. The gang at time makes the community safer by enforcing boundaries and regulations within said boundaries, but it also makes the local community more dangerous as it becomes a target for other gangs to attack.
I found these interactions interesting. Many people, even legitimate workers, such as tenant and building officials, police officers, local businesses such as restaurants, convenience stores, and car shops, and church and school officials, work with the gang instead of against it. These people might know who the leaders are, but prefer to work with the gang in peace, as the gang is often a source of money for programming and protection for businesses.
Many people in the projects, gang affiliated or not, take part in the underground economy. This might be cooking and selling meals in your kitchen, babysitting kids, working on or washing cars, or cutting and styling hair.
This is how people survive. They might also offer these services for discount or in exchange for other goods. You can watch my cable, if you cook meals for my kids, for example. Even businesses would make deals with tenant officials in this way. People used their networks and made "friends" in places so they wouldn't get in trouble for illegal activity, or evicted if they didn't pay their rent.
Much of this was regulated by the gang, who would then want a cut. Some saw them as a dictatorship or another form of government. It was a way of life.
This culture has been adapted because of conditions of poverty. It is an innate human characteristic that we do what it takes to survive, and I believe this underground economy and gang organization has been formed as a way to do that. People in this particular project that Venkatesh studied lived much more communally than many other Americans do: they shared housing, child care responsibilities, utilities, food, and other resources. Venkatesh noted that often a group of apartments would work as one unit: one individual would pay the utilites and have hot water, and everyone in that group would shower there. Another would pay for cable so that everyone could watch TV there. Another would provide food. Another would provide child care so that other house holds could work. Certain people's names did or didn't go on the lease depending on whether or not they were working, so that the others could receive benefits for them all to split.
While many of the activities partaken in are illegal, this is a well-oiled, dictionary definition of true community. People rely on their neighbors, care for one another, and do what it takes to scrape by. The gang is involved in this because they see the gang as a resource.
Upon reading this account, I'm not sure where even a city planner or mayor or public official would start to break the cycle of poverty. It is so deeply rooted and has such different cultural norms than other society, that many cannot change their ways, even if they suddenly have money or more resources. Poverty has become a way of life with it's own rules and norms and systems. Introducing better housing, for example, or more police regulation, or better schools is a challenge as many are scared of what they don't know. These changes often create gang conflicts as people are moved around or forced to go to new schools. These changes, which many Americans see as good, are scary to those who are unfamiliar. It seems crazy to us that someone would not want to give up a life of poverty and crime, but I challenge you to see it in a different light: this is what this population knows.
--Megan
What I found most interesting about the story was how the gang operated much like another enterprise or legal business and this underground enterprise's interactions with the local community. There were officials, ranks, seniority, and politics. Gang members were expected to graduate high school in order to stay in the gang and have a chance at a higher rank. Much of the local community has a love/hate relationship with the gang. They need the gang to regulate activity in the community, support neighborhood services and businesses, and throw parties, but they also have to pay taxes to the gang, and put up with disruptions. The gang at time makes the community safer by enforcing boundaries and regulations within said boundaries, but it also makes the local community more dangerous as it becomes a target for other gangs to attack.
I found these interactions interesting. Many people, even legitimate workers, such as tenant and building officials, police officers, local businesses such as restaurants, convenience stores, and car shops, and church and school officials, work with the gang instead of against it. These people might know who the leaders are, but prefer to work with the gang in peace, as the gang is often a source of money for programming and protection for businesses.
Many people in the projects, gang affiliated or not, take part in the underground economy. This might be cooking and selling meals in your kitchen, babysitting kids, working on or washing cars, or cutting and styling hair.
This is how people survive. They might also offer these services for discount or in exchange for other goods. You can watch my cable, if you cook meals for my kids, for example. Even businesses would make deals with tenant officials in this way. People used their networks and made "friends" in places so they wouldn't get in trouble for illegal activity, or evicted if they didn't pay their rent.
Much of this was regulated by the gang, who would then want a cut. Some saw them as a dictatorship or another form of government. It was a way of life.
This culture has been adapted because of conditions of poverty. It is an innate human characteristic that we do what it takes to survive, and I believe this underground economy and gang organization has been formed as a way to do that. People in this particular project that Venkatesh studied lived much more communally than many other Americans do: they shared housing, child care responsibilities, utilities, food, and other resources. Venkatesh noted that often a group of apartments would work as one unit: one individual would pay the utilites and have hot water, and everyone in that group would shower there. Another would pay for cable so that everyone could watch TV there. Another would provide food. Another would provide child care so that other house holds could work. Certain people's names did or didn't go on the lease depending on whether or not they were working, so that the others could receive benefits for them all to split.
While many of the activities partaken in are illegal, this is a well-oiled, dictionary definition of true community. People rely on their neighbors, care for one another, and do what it takes to scrape by. The gang is involved in this because they see the gang as a resource.
Upon reading this account, I'm not sure where even a city planner or mayor or public official would start to break the cycle of poverty. It is so deeply rooted and has such different cultural norms than other society, that many cannot change their ways, even if they suddenly have money or more resources. Poverty has become a way of life with it's own rules and norms and systems. Introducing better housing, for example, or more police regulation, or better schools is a challenge as many are scared of what they don't know. These changes often create gang conflicts as people are moved around or forced to go to new schools. These changes, which many Americans see as good, are scary to those who are unfamiliar. It seems crazy to us that someone would not want to give up a life of poverty and crime, but I challenge you to see it in a different light: this is what this population knows.
--Megan
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