Family Relationships of City Gang Members

Family and Gang as Agents of Socialization The family, conceived primarily as a child-rearing agency, and the gang, defined in some detail in the last chapter, were both prevalent forms of associational units in Midcity. It is important to repeat at this point that the term “family” as used in the present work refers to that kinship-based associational unit which bears primary responsibility for the rearing of children—particularly during the pre-adolescent period. This usage does not specify the age, sex, or marital status of those who perform the primary child-rearing tasks, and in this respect differs from prevalent conceptions of the family which incorporate the notion of a “husband,” a “wife,” and their mutual offspring. Since the term “the family” evokes in many persons an image of the husband-wife household, the more neutral term “child-rearing arrangement” is used elsewhere in this work to characterize the unit at issue, and the term “family” as used here is meant to convey the same meaning.261