Based on this study, the author questions prevailing assumptions about gang violence, drug use, and the cultural differences between the inner-city "underclass" and the suburban middle classes. Unlike many other gang studies, the author explores the issue of gender for both male and female gang members and examines the differences between male and female gangs. Another important aspect of this book is its contribution to social science methodology. The author explains why an accurate picture of street gangs is impossible without going directly to the gangs. The study involved collaborative research with present and former gang members. The study documents the increase and recent decrease in violence and drug use among gang members. Some of the issues addressed are whether gang youth hold deviant or mainstream values, whether two decades of "deindustrialization" have produced a new set of destructive violent values among the disadvantaged, whether gang members are more like mainstream Americans than they are different from them, whether underclass neighborhoods are "disorganized" or just differently organized, and whether the differences between male and female gangs hold a clue as to how to address violence and drug abuse. Appended study questionnaire (December 1985), a list of gangs interviewed, chapter notes, 230 references, and a subject index