Earth Sociology Islands in the Street: Urban Gangs in the United States F or more than ten years, sociologist Martín Sánchez- Jankowski did participant observation of thirty- seven African American, Chicano, Dominican, Irish, Jamaican, and Puerto Rican gangs in Boston, Los Angeles, and New York City. The gangs earned money through gambling, arson, mugging, armed robbery, and selling moonshine, drugs, guns, stolen car parts, and protection. Sánchez- Jankowski ate, slept, and fought with the gangs, but by mutual agreement he did not participate in drug dealing or other illegal activities. He was seriously injured twice during the study.
Contrary to stereotypes, Sánchez- Jankowski did not find that the motive for join-ing was to escape a broken home or to seek a substitute family. Rather, the boys joined to gain access to money, to have recreation, to maintain anonymity in committing crimes, to get protection, and to help the community. This last reason may seem surpris-ing, but in some neighborhoods, gangs protect residents from outsiders and spearhead political change. The boys also saw the gang as an alternative to the dead- end- and deadening- jobs held by their parents.
Neighborhood residents are ambivalent about gangs. On the one hand, they fear the violence. On the other hand, many of the adults once be-longed to gangs, some gangs provide better protection than the police, and gang members are the children of people who live in the neighborhood. Particular gangs will come and go, but gangs will likely always remain part of the city. As function-alists point out, gangs fulfill needs of poor youth who live on the margins of society. For Your Consideration .
functions do gangs fulfill? Suppose that you have been hired as an urban plan-ner for the city of Los Angeles. How could you arrange to meet the needs that gangs fulfill in ways that minimize vio-lence and encourage youth to follow mainstream norms?