The origins and emergence of youth ‘gangs’ in a British inner‐city neighbourhood

This paper explores the changing shape of black youth cultures and youth crime since the 1970s and the emergence of ‘gangs’ in the 21st century, against the backdrop of Britain's changing social, economic and cultural conditions. Using a structural‐cultural conceptual framework, it demonstrates that like much black youth crime in the 1980s and 1990s, gang membership amongst black young males can, in part, be explained as a dysfunctional cultural adaptation to socio‐structural pressures. Yet, while tackling poverty, social and economic disadvantage and racism will alleviate some of their pressures, many young people feel they are trapped in ‘violent worlds’ and have developed a sense of nihilism, which now appears to be a more pressing problem.