Abstract
capital’, the material and symbolic signifi ers of manhood, and the accompanying stylistic and timely displays of this capital, means that youths often perceive gangs to be spaces of male success. This drives the social reproduction of gangs. Once in the gang, the youths become increasingly ‘bad’ , using violence to defend the gang’ s interests in exchange for masculine capital. Gang leaders, colloquially known as duros or ‘ hard men’ , tend to be the más malos, the ‘ baddest’ . The ‘ganging process’ should not be understood in terms of aberrant youth behaviour; rather there is practical logic to joining the gang as a site of identity formation for aspirational young men who are coming of age when conditions of structural exclusion conspire against them.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 183-210 |
| Journal | Journal of Latin American Studies |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 14 Jun 2017 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Feb 2018 |
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Keywords
- gangs
- Bourdieu
- Medellín
- masculine capital
- masculinities
- youth violence
- urban violence
Cite this
Becoming the ‘Baddest’ : Masculine Trajectories of Gang Violence in Medellín. / Baird, Adam.
In: Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. 50, No. 1, 02.2018, p. 183-210.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Becoming the ‘Baddest’
T2 - Masculine Trajectories of Gang Violence in Medellín
AU - Baird, Adam
PY - 2018/2
Y1 - 2018/2
N2 - Drawing upon 40 life-history interviews with gang members in Medellín, Colombia, this paper argues that many young men join gangs to emulate and reproduce ‘successful’ local male identities. The accumulation by the gang of ‘masculinecapital’, the material and symbolic signifi ers of manhood, and the accompanying stylistic and timely displays of this capital, means that youths often perceive gangs to be spaces of male success. This drives the social reproduction of gangs. Once in the gang, the youths become increasingly ‘bad’ , using violence to defend the gang’ s interests in exchange for masculine capital. Gang leaders, colloquially known as duros or ‘ hard men’ , tend to be the más malos, the ‘ baddest’ . The ‘ganging process’ should not be understood in terms of aberrant youth behaviour; rather there is practical logic to joining the gang as a site of identity formation for aspirational young men who are coming of age when conditions of structural exclusion conspire against them.
AB - Drawing upon 40 life-history interviews with gang members in Medellín, Colombia, this paper argues that many young men join gangs to emulate and reproduce ‘successful’ local male identities. The accumulation by the gang of ‘masculinecapital’, the material and symbolic signifi ers of manhood, and the accompanying stylistic and timely displays of this capital, means that youths often perceive gangs to be spaces of male success. This drives the social reproduction of gangs. Once in the gang, the youths become increasingly ‘bad’ , using violence to defend the gang’ s interests in exchange for masculine capital. Gang leaders, colloquially known as duros or ‘ hard men’ , tend to be the más malos, the ‘ baddest’ . The ‘ganging process’ should not be understood in terms of aberrant youth behaviour; rather there is practical logic to joining the gang as a site of identity formation for aspirational young men who are coming of age when conditions of structural exclusion conspire against them.
KW - gangs
KW - Bourdieu
KW - Medellín
KW - masculine capital
KW - masculinities
KW - youth violence
KW - urban violence
U2 - 10.1017/S0022216X17000761
DO - 10.1017/S0022216X17000761
M3 - Article
VL - 50
SP - 183
EP - 210
JO - Journal of Latin American Studies
JF - Journal of Latin American Studies
SN - 0022-216X
IS - 1
ER -