Citation

Cureton SR. J. Gang Res. 2010; 18(1): 39-52.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, National Gang Crime Research Center)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In order to gain better insight about gangsterism perhaps there is a need to examine our life course for those experiences that equip us with the frame of reference that would allow comprehension of what it means to be identified and treated as statistical casualties of urban warfare. In order to understand South Central's gang mentality attention should be directed towards the possibility that South Central (despite the name change to South, Los Angeles) is still a community where Black males engage in situational ethics governed by gangster politics, which yields organized confusion and depravity. Hence, the South Central Black male experience is best described as an attempt to negotiate manhood in an environment with economic, resource and social stress factors that manifest as oppressive and overwhelming strains, which literally forces a hasty gravitation towards gangstersim.