Gangs & Crime

This is a comprehensive and engaging examination of gangs and crime. Drawing on a range of critical perspectives, this book enhances the existing gang literature by exploring the development of gangs in the UK context. It does a great job of consolidating existing literature and theoretical perspectives in a critical and well written manner, which is both easy to access and compelling. This is a 'must add' textbook for criminology and youth justice undergraduate reading lists.

In this comprehensive, well written, and up to date volume, Alistair Fraser offers an excellent introduction to the classic foundations of US and UK gang studies while simultaneously broadening the scope both globally and epistemologically. It is a prime example of a new wave of critical gang research that aims to disrupt stereotypical representations and provide alternative conceptual tools and perspectives through which to better understand gangs and their underlying dynamics.

Gangs & Crime ... is written by the foremost expert in global gangs, youth subculture and gang identity. Alistair Fraser is a world-renowned urban sociologist, bringing to his work a creative methodological approach and a genuinely international perspective ... Ali's energy, knowledge and passion for his subject leap off the page, and this book rewards close and attentive reading ... It is also, quite simply, a cracking read.

Chapter One: Gangs & Crime: Definitions, Approaches and Debates Introduction Gangs and Crime: An Introduction Debates, Faultlines and Approaches Overview, structure and themes Summary Chapter Two: Histories of Gangs: Representations, Realities and Urban Genealogy Introduction Historical perspectives: an overview Gangs and Urban Genealogy Summary Chapter Three: Researching Gangs: Methods, Ethics and Politics Introduction Methodology and Epistemology in Gang Research Quantitative and Statistical Approaches Quantitative and Statistical Approaches Ethics and Politics Gang Research Summary Chapter Four: Early Sociological Perspectives: From Subculture to Street Culture Introduction Gangs and the sociological imagination Social Disorganisation Anomie Subculture Drift Street culture Summary Chapter Five: Gangs, Crime and Social Harm: A Multi-Level Approach Introduction Gangs and crime: an introduction Gangs, crime and social harm Gangs and crime: a multi-level approach Rethinking territory, violence and drugs Summary Chapter 6: Feminist Perspectives: Gangs, Gender and Structured Action Introduction Feminist criminology: an introduction Gangs, gender and crime: an overview Feminist approaches to gangs Gangs, Masculinities and Structured Action Gangs and gender: emerging perspectives Summary Chapter Seven: Cultural Perspectives: Crime, New Media and Popular Culture Introduction Moral panic in a multi-mediated world Cultural criminology: an introduction Cultural representations of gangs Literature and auto/biography Film and TV Gangs, new media and popular culture Summary Chapter Eight: Gangs in the Global City: Precarity, Marginality and Identity Introduction Global Criminology: An introduction Gangs and Globalisation: Key Concepts Researching Gangs in a Global Context Summary Chapter Nine: Decentring the World of Gangs: Theory from the South Introduction Postcolonial and Southern Criminology Gangs in the Global South Latin America Africa Asia Oceania Summary Chapter Ten: Responding to the Global Gang: Policing, Punishment and Policy Transfer Introduction Youth Justice in Comparative Perspective Gangs, Globalisation and Policy Transfer Policing and the Gang Gangs, Law and the Prison Beyond Criminal Justice: Alternative Approaches