Skip to main content

Jack-of-all-trades: social capital, criminal versatility and brokerage in a street gang network

Resource type
Thesis type
(Thesis) M.A.
Date created
2013-08-13
Authors/Contributors
Abstract
This study draws from research on social capital and social network analysis to study the criminal careers of street gang members. The research question tested is whether access to greater social capital, by facilitating access to criminal opportunities, resources and skills, will be associated with criminal versatility. The social dynamics of street gangs and the fact that gang members have been found to be particularly active and versatile offenders provides an ideal framework to study this research question. Data on the criminal careers and social networks of gang members embedded in a large criminal network of 979 gang members and associates active from 2001 to 2008 in a large Canadian city are analyzed. Findings suggest that social capital is associated with criminal versatility. Furthermore, different social network structures in which social capital is embedded are important to understand involvement in offences requiring different skills and resources.
Document
Identifier
etd7994
Copyright statement
Copyright is held by the author.
Permissions
The author granted permission for the file to be printed, but not for the text to be copied and pasted.
Scholarly level
Supervisor or Senior Supervisor
Thesis advisor: Bouchard, Martin
Member of collection
Download file Size
etd7994_JGravel.pdf 3.1 MB

Views & downloads - as of June 2023

Views: 20
Downloads: 0