Violence as an Environmentally Warranted Norm amongst Working-Class Teenage Boys in Glasgow

Christopher Holligan,Robert Mclean

doi:10.3390/socsci7100207

Abstract

This study aimed to contribute to knowledge about contexts of violent assault perpetrated by white working-class teenage boys in Scotland. Despite studies exploring Scotland’s adolescent street gangs, there remains a gap in research where the collateral damage caused by gangs to others of the same class, age, and gender has gone unrecognized. Drawing upon insights from qualitative interviews with young, male, former offenders in Scotland we found that violence contained a strategic logic designed to foster bonding to a delinquent group, whilst offering a celebrity status and manliness. The co-presence of a violent culture worsened the likelihood of ameliorating mentalities associated with anti-social behaviors, which appear endemic to masculinity. That context of violence is associated with the criminal offending of boys who, though they may not be gang members, were nevertheless ‘contaminated’ by the aggressive shadow cast by the protest masculinity of gang-conflicted territories in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Highlights

This study aimed to contribute to knowledge about contexts of violent assault perpetrated by white working-class teenage boys in Scotland
That context of violence is associated with the criminal offending of boys who, though they may not be gang members, were ‘contaminated’ by the aggressive shadow cast by the protest masculinity of gang-conflicted territories in disadvantaged neighborhoods
Welfare provision, so important to the well-being of those with a sense of place? In liquid modernity, welfare provision, so important to the well-being marginalized by globalization, is a financial burden on the community, and the excluded are re-castare as of those marginalized by globalization, is a financial burden on the community, and the excluded lazy andasindulgent

Summary

Introduction

This study aimed to contribute to knowledge about contexts of violent assault perpetrated by white working-class teenage boys in Scotland. That context of violence is associated with the criminal offending of boys who, though they may not be gang members, were ‘contaminated’ by the aggressive shadow cast by the protest masculinity of gang-conflicted territories in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The functionality of violence can be glimpsed in the quotations above; it serves a retaliatory role and is required for personal protection. Whilst these functions are examples of its warrant, the verbal idiom crafts a deeper narrative concerning hegemonic masculinity. Welfare provision, so important to the well-being of those with a sense of place? In liquid modernity, welfare provision, so important to the well-being marginalized by globalization, is a financial burden on the community, and the excluded are re-castare as of those marginalized by globalization, is a financial burden on the community, and the excluded lazy andasindulgent

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion