child. It is then that the bond between the kid and the gang is completed because the gang has effectively taken the place of the family.The new anti social structure of cities also effects the ease in which a boy/girl can join a gang. " The formation of gangs in cities, and most recently in suburbs, is facilitated by the same lack of community among parents. The parents do not know what their children are doing for two reasons: First, much of the parents' lives is outside the local community, while the children's lives are lived almost totally within it. Second, in a fully developed community, the network of relations gives every parent, in a sense, a community of sentries who can keep him informed of his child's activities. In modern living-places (city or suburban), where such a network is attenuated, he no longer has such sentries."2, (Merton Nisbet, 1971).In male gangs problems occur as each is the members tries to be the most manly. This often leads to all members participating in "one-up-manship". Quite often this will then lead to each member trying to commit a bigger and more violent crime or simply more crimes than the others. With all members participating in this sort of activity it makes for a never ending unorganized violence spree (A sort of Clockwork Orange mentality). In gangs with more intellegent members these feelings end up making each member want to be the star when the groups commit a crime. This makes the gang much more organized and improves the morale of members which in turn makes them more dangerous and very hard for the police to deal with and catch (There is nothing harder to find and deal with than organized teens that are dedicated to the group). This sort of gang is usually common of middle or upper class people although it can happen in gangs in the projects and other low rent districts too.This "one-up-manship" is often the reason between rival gangs fighting. All gangs feel powerful and they want to ...
