Download or read book Youth Gangs in Hong Kong written by Ngai-Ling Li and published by . This book was released on 2017-01-26 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dissertation, "Youth Gangs in Hong Kong: the Convergence of Conventions and Deviations" by Ngai-ling, Li, 李藝靈, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Abstract of thesis entitled "Youth Gangs in Hong Kong: The Convergence of Conventions and Deviations" Submitted by Li Ngai Ling for the degree of Master of Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong in September 2005 Abstract Youth gangs, which have long been the focus of media reports and academic discussion, are commonly regarded as a social problem in Hong Kong. Gangs are popularly characterized in Hong Kong as being delinquent and criminal in orientation. This popular representation of gang life, however, serves only to heighten public anxiety over gangs and young people. This research, hence, explores the dynamics involved in youth gangs. Through an ethnographic exploration of a gang in Heng On Estate, Ma On Shan, this research provides a picture different from the one portrayed in the dominant discourse by demonstrating that the members spend most of their time engaged in conventional social activities. The gang, to its members, is a solution to boredom and serves as their alternative family. This alternative family helps them to cope with the strains due to the failure to attain the middle-class standards prescribed in school and the malfunction of their families. The youth gang members, out of public expectations, are only involved in delinquency and crime occasionally. They exhibit a drifting, continuous, repetitive pattern in committing old delinquent and criminal infractions. It is the growing sense of injustice and the resulting loosened moral bond that sets the foundation for deviating from "conventional" culture. The actual infractions are activated by the members' will. However, this choice is not made out of total freedom. The willingness to commit delinquency depends on the perceived moral and technical feasibility according to Matza's concept of delinquent drift. This research adds that peer pressure and gender also exert influences on the pattern of the drift to delinquency. This thesis argues that youth gang membership is a form of convergence of both conventional and deviant values. Joining a gang and involvement in delinquent and criminal behaviors represents young people's attempts to follow deviant values. Conventional values, on the contrary, appear in youth gangs in a more subtle way. On the one hand, they guide conventional social activities. On the other hand, quite often, the decision of whether one should turn to delinquency, and the patterns of delinquent infractions are also influenced by conventional ideas. DOI: 10.5353/th_b3167792 Subjects: Gangs - China - Hong Kong