NCJ Number
119754
Date Published
1989
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Thirty-eight girls and boys, between the ages of 16 and 18 and at risk of social exclusion, were interviewed in the Paris suburbs to examine their social careers, prospects for the future, and their practices and modes of relationship with each other and other people.
Abstract
Of the 38 youth interviewed, 17 mentioned participation in local gangs. Out of 15 girls interviewed, only five mentioned involvement in gangs. For the girls, gang membership is a reaction to their family and to their perception of the future facing them. The gangs structure the meaning and status of members' lives, in many ways reflecting the values of the working class from which the members come. The girls, for example, occupy subordinate positions. They are the "objects" of relationships and interactions among the male gang members. Without any assets that would suggest an occupational future, the girls' route into integration into the working class is through a strategy of matrimonial location played out primarily in the world of the gang and in response to complex rules by which the boys determine the girls' market value. These rules and the group's mode of operation govern the girls' conduct. 1 note.