Book review: John M Hagedorn (ed.), Gangs in the Global City: Alternatives to Traditional Criminology

Andrzej Klimczuk

doi:10.1177/0268580914524336

Abstract

Book review: John M Hagedorn (ed.), Gangs in the Global City: Alternatives to Traditional Criminology

Highlights

In the introductory chapter, Hagedorn proposes three areas of research that differentiate this volume from traditional criminology: (1) institutionalized gangs in ghettos, neighborhoods, and favelas; contemporary gangs are temporary adolescent activity; (2) gangs that are found in ‘American form’ but all over the world in response to the changing spaces of globalizing cities; and (3) gangs as ‘social actors’ whose identities are formed by ethnic, racial, and/or religious oppression, and/or by participation in the underground economy and by constructions of gender
John M Hagedorn assumes that the key to understanding their activities at the beginning of the 21st century is an interdisciplinary approach. This means expanding the analysis of gangs in relation to selected aspects of globalization such as the redivision of space, strengthening of traditional identities, ghettoization, social exclusion, socialization to crime, youth violence, and the underground economy
The first section tries to build theoretical perspectives for studies on gangs that are not connected to traditional criminology

Summary

Introduction

Hagedorn proposes three areas of research that differentiate this volume from traditional criminology: (1) institutionalized gangs in ghettos, neighborhoods, and favelas; contemporary gangs are temporary adolescent activity; (2) gangs that are found in ‘American form’ but all over the world in response to the changing spaces of globalizing cities; and (3) gangs as ‘social actors’ whose identities are formed by ethnic, racial, and/or religious oppression, and/or by participation in the underground economy and by constructions of gender. BOOK REVIEW John M Hagedorn (ed.), Gangs in the Global City: Alternatives to Traditional Criminology, University of Illinois Press: Urbana, 2007; 320 pp.: ISBN 9780252073373, US$28.00 Reviewed by Andrzej Klimczuk, Warsaw School of Economics, Poland Keywords: crime, gangs, globalization, late modernity, social exclusion, urban sociology

Results

Conclusion