Group and intergroup parameters of gang activities: An introduction and research agenda

Gangs have a disproportionate impact on the communities around them, and their activities, such as drug trafficking and violence, dramatically and adversely affect many young people’s and older neighbors’ lives in many parts of the world, not only in terms of community life satisfaction, but with respect to violence and death. For instance, in the UK, gangs account for almost 50% of shootings, 22% of serious violence, and 20% of stabbings resulting in immeasurable human costs and financial costs to British health and justice systems that run into many millions of pounds each year (HM Government, 2011). In the USA, at the time of going to press, the effect of gang activity was no more evident than during the weekend of July 4, 2014, where 82 people were shot, and 14 killed in Chicago. One crime consultant for CBS News commented: “I think it is representative of the gang, drug, gun violence problem that still persists in Chicago…. It’s not a law enforcement problem solely. There’s not going to be a law enforcement solution to this. You can’t arrest your way out of gang violence.” (CBS News, July, 2014).

The aforementioned demonstrates that there is a critical need to gain a deeper understanding about gangs. Yet, to date, a paucity of psychological research in the area leaves us at a standstill when contemplating the influence that gangs have on individual members. In his Preface to this Special Issue, Malcolm Klein (2014)—a seminal criminologist in this research area—urges us to remember that gangs are groups and not just aggregations of individuals. This thought, in part, prompted our development of this Special Issue. That gangs are groups is undeniable, yet empirical examination of the group processes that lead aggregations of individuals to become one cohesive entity that employs social norms, communicates its existence, and develops an oppositional culture, is rare. Klein notes how this oppositional culture leads gang members to reinterpret efforts to deter or to help as attempts at denigration. But where does this reinterpretation originate—from oppositional individuals or from group norms that shape members’ attitudes? Without a fuller understanding of gang group processes and how they inspire members’ behavior we cannot predict intervention outcomes, which are currently seen only at the postmortem of our efforts. Klein asserts that group processes in gangs are stronger than anything we initiate to prevent, reduce, and deter gang membership; our resources are no match for a gang’s group processes. Regardless of whether we address gang formation, gang prevention, or gang intervention, group processes are vital and their importance trumps demographics, gender, structure, or levels of membership.

Nevertheless, a multinational, multidiscipline, multimethod approach to studying gangs, as herein, offers promise that we can unravel and understand more about the group processes that are the lifeblood of gangs. But, in tandem, gang rivalries can be construed as intergroup communication par excellence. It is, therefore, surprising that very little work in the social psychology of intergroup relations, while examining a plethora of other intergroup settings, has been devoted to this topic. With Hogg and Tindale (2005), we recognize the significant interrelationships between group dynamics and intergroup processes (e.g., the emergence and change of leaders as a function of prevailing intergroup situation) and the relevance of this particular journal to examine between- and within-group issues in the hitherto underexplored realm of gangs. In terms of what we do know from other disciplines, Wood and Alleyne (2010) contend that “our knowledge on gangs is still limited and rather muddy” (p. 100).

The papers included in this Special Issue have been brought together to reflect some of the gang research that considers group and intergroup processes in gangs. In the first paper, Wood (2014) takes a social psychological perspective to consider some of the vast array of potential group processes that may be at work in a gang. The paper examines how these group processes may work to influence individual gang members’ cognitions, attitudes, and behavior and argues that group processes need more specific attention if we are to develop effective interventions to reduce gangs. In the second paper, Bolden (2014) uses a social network paradigm to examine the intergroup relationship dynamics of gang members in emerging and chronic gang cities. Bolden’s findings challenge common assumptions that gang members seldom interact with rivals unless it is with violence. Based on in-depth interviews, Bolden reveals that individuals’ outgroup ties with nonaffiliated and even arch-rival gangs are common and that family members, business enterprises, romantic interests, and even friendships facilitate these ties.

In contrast to Bolden’s (2014) paper, the third shows how gang members use the social-cognitive strategy of dehumanizing rivals to justify violence against them. Alleyne, Fernandes, and Pritchard (2014) reveal the importance of moral disengagement strategies in gang membership—particularly dehumanization tactics. The authors note how dehumanizing victims facilitates gang member violence, especially in formally structured groups that have a committed and cohesive membership and a collective identity that the group communicates to outgroups. In paper Number 4, Densley, Cai, and Hilal (2014) examine the potential of social dominance orientation (SDO) to explain intergang conflict. The authors report that core gang members have higher SDO and lower trust propensity than do peripheral gang members—and this is regardless of time spent with the gang. The authors contend that SDO and associated attitudes and behaviors in gang members are likely to be nurtured and reinforced via group processes, and that further work examining this relatively new area of gang research is vital for us to understand more of the role that SDO takes in a gang context.

The fifth paper in this Special Issue focuses on gang membership in a prison setting. Examining young offenders, Scott (2014) reports that although young offenders involved in institutional gangs have higher levels of aggressive and violent attitudes than nongang offenders, these levels reduce with length of time the youth are involved in the gang. Scott suggests that these findings are important for prison policies and treatment programs both of which should consider duration of group membership as an important factor when targeting interventions at gang members. The next paper in this Special Issue takes a broader perspective on criminal groups, going beyond street gangs to larger entities such as the Mafia to consider how cultures that foster codes of honor and masculinity may facilitate the recruitment of young people into criminal organizations and gangs. Travaglino, Abrams, Randsley de Moura, and Russo (2014) examined young Italians’ attitudes towards criminal organizations. Their findings show that holding positive attitudes towards criminal organizations and having low levels of vicarious shame regarding the activities of those criminal organizations mean that youth are less likely to take an anti-Mafia stance. The authors suggest that cultures that ideologically emphasize the importance of honor and masculinity may foster positive attitudes towards gangs that also endorse these ideologies.

Our final paper in this Special Issue offers a theoretical perspective on gangs by considering the roles that social identity and identity-related communication take in promoting gang membership among youth who seek a familial sense of belonging from their group membership. Giles, Goldman, and Hogg (2014) consider the messages communicated by gang members as an identity construction, projection, and management process in a gang’s dynamics (see also, Woo, Giles, Hogg, & Goldman, in press). The authors argue that the social psychological underpinnings of gang membership need greater attention so that we can identify the role that group processes play in gang membership more specifically.