This study, based on quantitative and qualitative data gathered over a twelve-year period, takes its title from the two predominant styles of gang violence: "drive-bys," which have replaced "rumbles" as the primary form of gang violence; and "gang-bangs"-a generic term for other gang violence that includes assaults, knifings, and beatings.
The author attempts to understand the situations in which a young man would drive up to another human being and, without further ado, blow his head off. By examining hundreds of such situations, and employing both structural and phenomenological analysis, Sanders explores the various configurations of gang violence.
Gangbangs and Drive-bys also examines the routines of gang members and their view of life, the different styles of gangs, and changes undergone by gangs from the early 1980s to the end of the same decade. Over that period, the emphasis shifted from parties and paybacks to big money from the sale of rock cocaine, and from unstructured to organized crime. Along with that shift came an increase in the violence.
Finally, Sanders traces the beginning and evolution of a metropolitan police gang unit over the same decade in order to present an inside view of how the police attempt to deal with and understand gangs.
Industry Reviews
-[T]he book is informative. A useful addition to the literature on youth gangs. All levels.-
--D. Harper, Choice
-Gangs have reappeared in the sociological literature and the public debate. This book focuses on the situations in which gang members construct violent confrontations... In examining the very important topic of the violent situation, Sanders has gone to the scene of violent incidents with the special police gang unit in San Diego to try to reconstruct what happened... [E]xamination of the situation and the process permits us to understand better how different groups who currently live in similar socioeconomic circumstances construct distinctive situations in which violence occurs, and it demonstrates that gaps exist between more macrolevel structures and violent activities of gangs. This is a welcome addition to the gang literature because it focuses on microlevel processes and the construction of violence.-
--Ruth Horowitz, Contemporary Sociology
-[W]e learned something about gangbanging and drive-bys from this book.-
--Daniel Monti, Social Forces "[T]he book is informative. A useful addition to the literature on youth gangs. All levels."
--D. Harper, Choice
"Gangs have reappeared in the sociological literature and the public debate. This book focuses on the situations in which gang members construct violent confrontations... In examining the very important topic of the violent situation, Sanders has gone to the scene of violent incidents with the special police gang unit in San Diego to try to reconstruct what happened... [E]xamination of the situation and the process permits us to understand better how different groups who currently live in similar socioeconomic circumstances construct distinctive situations in which violence occurs, and it demonstrates that gaps exist between more macrolevel structures and violent activities of gangs. This is a welcome addition to the gang literature because it focuses on microlevel processes and the construction of violence."
--Ruth Horowitz, Contemporary Sociology
"[W]e learned something about gangbanging and drive-bys from this book."
--Daniel Monti, Social Forces "[T]he book is informative. A useful addition to the literature on youth gangs. All levels."
--D. Harper, Choice
"Gangs have reappeared in the sociological literature and the public debate. This book focuses on the situations in which gang members construct violent confrontations... In examining the very important topic of the violent situation, Sanders has gone to the scene of violent incidents with the special police gang unit in San Diego to try to reconstruct what happened... [E]xamination of the situation and the process permits us to understand better how different groups who currently live in similar socioeconomic circumstances construct distinctive situations in which violence occurs, and it demonstrates that gaps exist between more macrolevel structures and violent activities of gangs. This is a welcome addition to the gang literature because it focuses on microlevel processes and the construction of violence."
--Ruth Horowitz, Contemporary Sociology
"[W]e learned something about gangbanging and drive-bys from this book."
--Daniel Monti, Social Forces
