• ISBN13: 9781138616110
• Binding: Hardcover
• Subject: Law and Criminology
• Publisher: T&F
• Publisher Imprint: Routledge
• Publication Date: January 1, 2021
• Pages: 768
• Original Price: GBP 220.0
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 1388 grams
• BISAC Subject(s): Criminal Law / Juvenile Offenders, Criminology, and Violence in Society

Routledge International Handbook of Critical Gang Studies is rooted in the instability, inequality and liquidity of the post-industrial era. It understands the gang as a complex and contradictory phenomenon; a socio-historical agent that reflects, responds to and creates a certain structured environment in spaces which are always in flux. International in scope and drawing on a range of sociological, criminological and anthropological traditions, it looks beyond pathological, ahistorical and non-transformative approaches, and considers other important factors that produce the phenomenon, whether the historically entrenched racialized power structure and segregation in Chicago; the unconstrained state-abandoned development of favelas in Brazil; or the colonization, displacement and dependency of people in Central America. This handbook reflects and defines the new theoretical and empirical traditions of critical gang studies. It offers a variety of perspectives, including:

• A view of gangs that takes into consideration the global context and appearance of the "gang" in its various forms and stages of development;
• An appreciation of the gang as a socio-cultural formation;
• A race-ethnic and class analysis of the gang that problematizes domain assumptions such as the "underclass";
• Gender variations of the gang phenomenon with a particular emphasis on their intersectional properties;
• Relations between gangs and the political economy that address the dominant mode of production and exchange;
• Treatments that demonstrate the historically contingent nature of gangs and their changes across time;
• The contradictory impact of gang repressive policies, institutions and practices as part of a broader discussion on the nature of the state in specific societies; and
• Critical methodologies on gangs that involve discussions of visual and textual representations and the problematics of data collection and analysis.

Authoritative, multi-disciplinary and international, this book will be of interest to criminologists, sociologists and anthropologists alike, particularly those engaged with critical criminology/sociology, youth crime, delinquency and global social inequality. The Handbook will also be of interest to policy makers and those in the peacebuilding field.

David C. Brotherton is Professor of Sociology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York, where his research on youth resistance, marginalization and gangs led to the Street Organization Project in 1997. He has received numerous research grants from both private and public agencies and has published widely in journals, books, newspapers and magazines. Dr Brotherton currently co-directs the Social Change Project at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and edits the Transgressive Studies book series at Temple University Press. In 2011 he was named Critical Criminologist of the Year and in 2015 was the recipient of the Praxis Award for contributions to social activism and justice.

Rafael Jose Gude is a Research Fellow with the Social Change and Transgressive Studies Project at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY. He has done extensive fieldwork with gangs in both El Salvador and Ecuador, where much of his research has focused on developing viable alternatives to the war on gangs. He has an MPhil in Latin American Studies from the University of Oxford.