Decker's analysis of contagion and threat in gang violence

Gang Violence

In "Collective and Normative Features of Gang Violence," Decker (1996) examines the sociological origins of gangs and describes the impetus for gang-related violence through a sociological lens. Decker (1996) focuses on "contagion," or the spread of a collective mentality through the group. Contagion refers both to the spread of violent behaviors within one group as well as the spread of violence and gang membership increases across and between different neighborhoods. Decker (1996) also focuses on the issue of threat, and how actual and perceived threats precipitates violent behaviors among gang members. Group cohesiveness and collective behavior are also discussed.

Data was collected from a three-year study conducted in the city of St. Louis, in which the researchers directly contacted gang members for interviews. Contacts were made through a street ethnographer with sufficient credibility within the gang community to ensure authenticity of the participants' membership in the gang. Interviews were conducted with members of different gangs, ultimately 99 individuals between the ages of 13 and 29, from 29 different gangs. Research is therefore descriptive and qualitative in nature, as opposed to experimental.

3. Gang violence is central to gang life, and is even part of the initiation process, as new members pledge their allegiance through acts of violence against rival networks. Violence is usually framed in terms of retribution, which explains why violence between gangs is ongoing. Gangs rarely take responsibility for initiating violence themselves. Moreover, gangs view violence as the only means to solve the problem of gang membership and do not view alternatives to violence as being viable. In addition to violence, other symbols of group solidarity include the use of graffiti and tagging to mark territory. Territorialism is important to gang identity. Gang violence is cyclical, with stages of escalation and de-escalation, and at each stage, there is the potential to solidify the group consciousness. Gangs have a relatively loose organizational hierarchy and weak leadership.

4. With violence at their core, gangs represent an opportunity to understand group cohesion and contagion of behavior. There are actually few leaders in gangs, and because gangs are relatively unstructured social entities, the potential for contagion is strong. Perceived threat and the belief that rival gangs initiate violence perpetuates the mindset that violence is a necessity and inevitability. Violence is often symbolic, built on mythical notions of the role of gang life. Solidarity in gangs is enhanced via the use of violence and its perpetuation. External threats, either real or perceived, are the cornerstone of social solidarity. Loose structure and no actual leadership enhance the potency of group contagion. The authors propose seven steps in the process of gang self-perpetuation, from the formation of loose bonds through the stages of violence escalation and de-escalation.