Topic 2: URBAN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS/ COLLABORATIONS Flashcards
For Fraser and Hobbs (2023), urban criminal collaborations reflect:
Official concern over the threat to social order posed by groups of working-class males
According to Thrasher’s (1927) foundational text on the youth gangs of Chicago, street gangs are formed because of:
Conflict amongst youths struggling for territorial dominance of the poor neighbourhoods in which they live and socialise
According to Pitts (2008), in recent times there has been a greater convergence in gang formation and criminality in the UK and US because:
Life in US and UK cities has become more alike given de-industrialisation, growing social inequality and the growth of illicit drug markets
How has Thrasher’s (1927) work on youth gangs been used to explain adult criminal collaborations in the city?
Violent territorial disputes amongst youth gangs in poor neighbourhoods provide the training ground and supply of labour for adult crime groups
What, according to Fraser and Hobbs (2023), explains the demise of the ‘underworld of adult criminal collaborations’?
The emergence of post-industrial employment opportunities in narcotics and the night-time economy
What was the key motivation for Thrasher’s study of youth gangs in Chicago?
To provide a non-pejorative, scientific explanation of gang formation
What are the different levels of gang structure identified by Thrasher?
- Casual crowds
- Diffuse gangs
- Solidified gangs
- Conventionalised gangs
What routes into adult criminality did Thrasher identify emerging from gang involvement?
- Banditry
- Recruitment into adult criminal enterprises
- Machine politics
What was the main criticism of American gang theories made by British subcultural theorists like Downes?
That concepts like status frustration did not apply to working-class British youth who did not share mainstream cultural values about status and upward mobility
What alternative concept was proposed by Downes to explain working-class youth behavior in Britain?
Dissociation - rejection rather than frustration of mainstream values
What did the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies focus on instead of explanations for offending behavior?
The social reaction and labeling of youth subcultures as deviant
According to the convergence thesis, what change made American-style gangs more relevant in Britain?
The erosion of the welfare state and disappearance of working-class job opportunities
What alternative perspective on youth violence in London was proposed by Hallsworth and Young?
The “on road” subculture rather than formal gang structures
What role did authorities play in escalating gang problems in Manchester according to Ralphs et al?
Self-fulfilling prophecies through labeling and over-policing
What unique historical factor shaped gang formation in Glasgow?
Religious sectarianism dividing neighborhoods
What does the concept of “professional crime” refer to?
Sophisticated acquisitive crime like fraud and extortion by career criminals
How did the postwar expansion of consumer spending enable new professional criminal opportunities?
Rise of disposable incomes increased demand for consumer goods, enabling long-term frauds
What impact did deindustrialisation have on traditional organized crime according to Fraser and Hobbs?
Disrupted recruitment and traditional rackets based around industrial neighborhoods
What new opportunities emerged with the expansion of nighttime economies?
- Extortion
- Vice
- Drug-dealing focused around bars, clubs and restaurants
What was the “external threat” narrative about organized crime in the era of globalization?
Foreign gangs trafficking drugs and people into European cities
What empirical evidence countered exaggerations about alien conspiracy theories?
Most UK organized crime group members were British citizens
What new business model is associated with the concept of “County Lines”?
Using exploited adolescents to transport drugs from cities to provincial regions
Why do critical social scientists favor the term “criminal collaborations” over “gangs”?
Better reflects changing historical and situational contexts enabling joint offending
How did Stan Cohen distinguish between different “orders of reality” in studying crime?
The nature of crime itself, speculation about crime, reflections on these speculations
What philosophical distinction did Hallsworth and Young make about explanations of urban violence?
Imposing order (“arboreal thinking”) versus mapping complexity (“rhizomatic thinking”)
What proportion of offenses are estimated to be committed jointly?
Around one half
What was the main concern about youth gangs for Shaw and McKay of the Chicago School?
Generalised patterns in the zones of transition where gangs emerged
What was the name of the classic ethnographic study of Glasgow gangs by Alistair Fraser?
The Gangs of Glasgow
What is the name of the theory that disadvantaged neighborhoods offer illegal opportunities leading to gang formation?
The social disorganization theory of Shaw and McKay
What 1981 film depicted the London underworld in transition?
The Long Good Friday
What criminologist studied armed robbers in London referred to as “The Firm”?
Dick Hobbs
What criminological perspective studied amplifications in deviance like gang labeling?
Labeling theory
What criminologist studied East End youth and criticized US theories?
David Downes
What criminologist studied street robberies by Liverpool youth?
Barry Burke
What theory explains individual adaptations to blocked opportunities?
Strain theory
What criminologist studied selling crack cocaine in East Harlem?
Philippe Bourgois
What Philadelphia study theorized subcultures arising from status frustration?
Albert Cohen
What 1990s initiative spread research on European gangs?
The Eurogang network
