The Kazan Leviathan

Russian Street Gangs as Agents of Social Order

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3380001
AutoresSvetlana Stephenson (0000-0001-5249-8160, London Metropolitan University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2011
Volumen59
Número2
Páginas324-347
Fecha de publicación2011-05-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0038-0261 • E-ISSN: 1467-954X
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-954x.2011.02007.x
OpenAlexW2151676419
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas8
Referencias citadas62

This article discusses the evolution of street gangs in the Russian city of Kazan. Using historic and interview data, it shows that the changes in the social organization of these gangs were a reaction to a series of systemic crises in the Soviet and post-Soviet social order. As a result of power deficits, emerging in the space of the streets and in the larger society, the gangs moved through several stages: a) youth peer groups acting out traditional prescriptions of masculine socialisation; (b) territorial 'elite' formations; (c) 'violent entrepreneurs' and (d) autonomous ruling regimes. The article demonstrates that the gangs, while utilising violence to achieve their projects of social and economic domination, may also regulate its use. It argues that the gangs can be seen as historic agents participating in ground-level social regulation, and not simply products and producers of social disorder

Criminology · Economics · Elite · Order (exchange) · Organised crime · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Social order · Sociology · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Law