Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
UNDERSTANDING GANG LEADERS: CHARACTERISTICS AND DRIVING FORCES OF STREET GANG LEADERS IN SWEDEN
Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Sociology.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0973-3481
2012 (English)In: Free inquiry in creative sociology, ISSN 0736-9182, Vol. 40, no 2, p. 1-19Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

In this criminological study we have combined ethnographic fieldwork observations with twelve in-depth interviews with Swedish street gang leaders and twelve associate gang members to understand the driving forces behind street gang leadership and gang membership by delineating the multiple themes of the subjects’ narratives. A descriptive and interpretive analysis of the data suggested four ideal-types, each with specific goals, aspirations, and motives. These were in accord with a limited, though diverse literature on gang leadership that has primarily emerged in the United States. The analysis, however, does not necessarily support the claim that U.S.-style intergenerational, institutionalized gangs exist in Sweden; simply that there are similar gang leadership styles and motivations in these different contexts. In terms of policy, the analysis contains important lessons for agencies involved in social control efforts against street gangs and similar subcultures by focusing on the heterogeneous roles and influences of gang hierarchies. Further, the analysis reiterates the need for a more nuanced understanding of street gangs and the structured agency of members within their own narrative accounts. In terms of research, these findings suggest a need for further in-depth, holistic studies to create a more empirically grounded gang leader typology.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2012. Vol. 40, no 2, p. 1-19
Keywords [en]
Gangs, Street Gangs, Police, Policing
National Category
Sociology
Research subject
Sociology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-101989OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-101989DiVA, id: diva2:706296
Available from: 2014-03-19 Created: 2014-03-19 Last updated: 2022-02-24Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Criminal Organizing: Studies in the sociology of organized crime
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Criminal Organizing: Studies in the sociology of organized crime
2016 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

What organized crime is and how it can be prevented are two of the key questions in both organized crime research and criminal policy. However, despite many attempts, organized crime research, the criminal justice system and criminal policy have failed to provide a shared and recognized conceptual definition of organized crime, which has opened the door to political interpretations. Organized crime is presented as an objective reality—mostly based on anecdotal empirical evidence and generic descriptions—and has been understood, as being intrinsically different from social organization, and this has been a justification for treating organized crime conceptually separately.

In this dissertation, the concept of organized crime is deconstructed and analyzed. Based on five studies and an introductory chapter, I argue that organized crime is an overarching concept based on an abstraction of different underlying concepts, such as gang, mafia, and network, which are in turn semi-overarching and overlapping abstractions of different crime phenomena, such as syndicates, street-gangs, and drug networks. This combination of a generic concept based on underlying concepts, which are themselves subject to similar conceptual difficulties, has given rise to a conceptual confusion surrounding the term and the concept of organized crime. The consequences of this conceptual confusion are not only an issue of semantics, but have implications for our understanding of the nature of criminal collaboration as well as both legal and policy consequences. By combining different observers, methods and empirical materials relating to dimensions of criminal collaboration, I illustrate the strong analogies that exist between forms of criminal collaboration and the theory of social organization.

I argue in this dissertation that criminal organizing is not intrinsically different from social organizing. In fact, the dissertation illustrates the existence of strong analogies between patterns of criminal organizing and the elements of social organizations. But depending on time and context, some actions and forms of organizing are defined as criminal, and are then, intentionally or unintentionally, presumed to be intrinsically different from social organizing. Since the basis of my argument is that criminal organizing is not intrinsically different from social organizing, I advocate that the study of organized crime needs to return to the basic principles of social organization in order to understand the emergence of, and the underlying mechanism that gives rise to, the forms of criminal collaboration that we seek to explain. To this end, a new general analytical framework, “criminal organizing”, that brings the different forms of criminal organizations and their dimensions together under a single analytical tool, is proposed as an example of how organizational sociology can advance organized crime research and clarify the chaotic concept of organized crime. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, 2016. p. 103
Series
Stockholm studies in sociology, ISSN 0491-0885 ; 62
Keywords
Organized crime, Criminal organizing, Social order, Mafia, Gang, Network
National Category
Sociology
Research subject
Sociology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:su:diva-128362 (URN)978-91-7649-364-9 (ISBN)
Public defence
2016-06-03, Hörsal 4, Hus B, Universitetsvägen 10 B, Stockholm, 10:00 (Swedish)
Opponent
Supervisors
Note

At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 5: Manuscript.

 

Available from: 2016-05-11 Created: 2016-03-24 Last updated: 2022-02-23Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

UNDERSTANDING GANG LEADERS(392 kB)14768 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 392 kBChecksum SHA-512
a477d0b7cdb402ce91302b6a76f7d73eff376ea8ea9e4cdae0106fb70627b932919d5c9015acacfef9b8ca4731db5c0ee8d26dcada5dd272fbbf43668967276d
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Other links

Free full text

Authority records

Rostami, Amir

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Rostami, Amir
By organisation
Department of Sociology
Sociology

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 14774 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

urn-nbn

Altmetric score

urn-nbn
Total: 722 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf