-"since the accused individual's social, political and economic resources shape the capacity to reject or mitigate the stigma of a deviant label, labeling may produce additional deviance merely by cutting off access to legitimate resources and opportunities. Alternatively, a social network which provides support and resources may allow an individual to renegotiate or disavow a deviant label." (Bowditch: 495). LATIN KINGS = PRECISELY THIS KIND OF SOCIAL NETWORK!

-"The 5 cases of street sellers we did examine suggest that entree into street-level sales was more of a conscious decision of a ppor person who decided to enter an underground economy, not an effort to solve a user's porblems. Our interviews with street sellers suggest that they choose to participate in an illicit profit-generating activity largely because licit economice opportunities were scarce or nonexistent." (Murphy et. al.: 464).

The Latin Kings are one of the most successful gangs in recent American history. Originating in two or three Latino neighbourhoods in Chicago in the late 1960âs, the Latin Kings have expanded to virtually to cities in several states, most notably New York. (Conneticut South-East Gang Activities Group, 2000). At some point in their recent history, the Latin Kings began to actively resist the label "gang." By 1997, media stories began appearing regularly in which Latin Kings representatives actively contested their depiction by social control agents and the media as gang members. Instead, they attempted to put forth an identity of the Latin Kings as a type of Latino/a social movement (Rovira, 1997).

Why did the Latin Kings begin contesting the "gang" label, preferring instead one typifying them as a social movement and what impact has this position had on their relationship with other institutions in the community, if any? This question is not inconsequential because it could well illuminate how deviant collectivities contest and challenge authority and particularly how they resistance the labels social control agencies put upon them. Did this resistance evolve in consequence to changes in the surrounding community? What exactly do groups like the Latin Kings do and what is the nature of their relationships with the broader community and state institutions, especially social control agencies? What are the reasons behind an emerging social consciousness within the group? What is the impact of perceived discrimination upon deviant behaviour? This study will attempt to answer all of these questions, furthering the body of knowledge regarding the interactions of gangs, social control agencies and the broader communities they are embedded in.

RESEARCH CONTEXT

The academic literature on gangs has been influenced for decades by work from the Chicago school, in which Thrasher portrayed gangs as a symptom of social dysfunction prevalent in "zones of transition" ö low-income neighbourhoods populated by new immigrant groups (Thrasher, 1936). As these groups assimilated into the dominant American culture, the gangs would dissipate, only to be replace by a new gang consisting of members of the newest incoming immigrant group. (Thrasher; Whyte, 1943).

However, this model of the street gang as a transitory symptom of social dysfunction did not appear applicable to American street gangs a few decades later (Moore et al., 1983: p. 183), who were no longer transitory and too diverse in structure to be accounted for by the Chicago school model.

Sociologists began to look for new explanations to help comprehend the new types of gangs in America ö permanent, non-assimilated collectives of youths often organized on the basis of shared ethnicity, no longer bound by territoriality (Ibid.). This search led in the late 1980âs to a new emphasis on ethnographic research, which in turn moved the focus on gangs to the activities the gangs were involved in (Hagedorn, 1988; Jankowski, 1991;Ruble and Turner, 2000). These naturalist accounts of American gangs made note of the organizational structures of gangs and how these structures evolved in response to changes in the community in which gang activities were embedded.

Many studies noted that economic changes in a community, particularly the decline of the manufacturing sector, decreased the economic opportunities for members of the communities in which gangs operated (Mercer, 1989; Moore, 1992; Adamson, 2000). This led gangs öor, more accurately ö the economic activities of the gangs - in these communities to become avenues for economic opportunities otherwise denied young people living in those communities (Sullivan, 1989; Williams, 1989; Venkatesh, 1997). It also facilitated the institutionalization of the gang within the community, as increasing needs and decreasing social spending (Venkatesh, 1997) drove gangs to fulfill functions that were no longer being met within the community (Ruble and Turner; Adamson; Venkatesh, 1998), including institutional functions (Jankowski; Venkatesh, 1997).

In particular, Martin Sanchez-Jankowskiâs position is that gangs can no longer be understood apart from the social organizational context of the larger community (1991). Sudhir Venkatesh provides a superb ethnographic examination of the changing relations between a street gang and the broader community, addressing a large gap in knowledge on gang-community interactions (1997).

Venkatesh credits the gangâs "corporatization" in the drug trade as the cause of the changes in their relations with the community, placing the gang in competition with other organizations/institutions in the community for the support of community members. By corporatization, Venkatesh is referring to the expansion of economic interests and fortunes of gang members. This expansion, combined with both the increasing need of the community and the evaporation of resources (e.g. government funding) for other community organizations and institutions makes this especially difficult for the gangâs competitors (Ibid.).

For the gang, these changes permitted them to advance socially to more meaningful interactions with other members of the community. This in turn impacted how community residents saw and interacted with the local tenantsâ association, the police, legitimate labour markets, and other institutions (Ibid.)..

Many of the functions assumed by the gang in Venkateshâs study are those of state institutions like the police and social service agencies, as well as functions that typify some social movements. These functions, which helped gang members develop relations with community leaders, build empathy from residents and participate in non-delinquent

social activities, were as much a part of the corporatization process as the gangâs expansion in the drug trade (Ibid.).

What are the similarities and differences between "The Saints" of Venkateshâs study and The Latin Kings of my proposed study? If an institutional vacuum exists in the communities in which The Latin Kings are situated, it would be logical and consistent with the changing functions of the gang for them to adopt the identity of a social movement and reject the identity of gang. This attempt to resist the signification of social control agencies may also provide strategic benefits for the group. It will also be crucial to the study to identify indications of group corporatization and reactions from social control agencies ö reactions which may well be impacted by the fact that the Latin Kings are a group of young Latino men and women from impoverished and socially-marginalized neighbourhoods. It is important to investigate how their ethnicity and class impacts the social process by which they may have become labeled as a street gang, or how these aspects affect relationships with other social actors and agencies (e.g. the police). Ethnicity and class may also play important roles in the level of discrimination Latin Kings might perceive from social control agencies.

It is at this point that I wish to situate my research. If gangs are fulfilling latent functions in poor communities to the point of institutionalizing, it is interesting that the Latin Kings have rejected the label "gang" in favour of labels promoting a view of their organization as a social movement. If how members themselves define gangs is crucial to understanding gang activity (Peterson, 2000), it is of equal importance when members no longer define their organization as a gang.

Have the communities in which the Latin Kings operate experience a combination of economic downturn and a reduction of social services and, if so, how did this impact the role of the Latin Kings in relation to their communities? If such an economic transformation occurred, did it contribute to the apparent re-conceptualization of the Latin Kings as a social movement by its own members? How are the Latin Kings viewed by the members of the community and by other social institutions? Can interactions between the Latin Kings and the police be characterized as those typical of interactions between competing institutions? These are all questions raised for me by this preliminary look at the available literature ö questions best answered by ethnographic fieldwork with the Latin Kings themselves and with their surrounding communities.

The methodology I propose to use for my research on the Latin Kings will combine ethnographic data obtained by field observation and in-depth interviews of the relevant actors (current and former Latin Kings, community members and leaders, representatives of state and social control agencies) with analyses of secondary sources.

The Latin Kings are an organization with active groups in many major cities across the United States. The first question will be to determine what neighbourhood I will focus on. Preliminary research has already indicated several communities in the Chicagoland

area as being good potential sites due to long-standing and active Latin King factions.
The Humboldt Park neighbourhood has been identified as one of the areas from which the Latin Kings emerged in the late 1960âs (Chicago Crime Commission, 1995). In addition, the Bushwick neighbourhood of Brooklyn has been identified as a stronghold of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation, the Latin Kings faction most vociferously affirming their identity as a social movement (Atwood, 1997).

Secondary sources will be essential for several reasons. They offer a reliable way to verify data collected from subjects during the qualitative phase of the research, particularly data collected from interviews. For example, media accounts of specific crimes and trials will allow verification of some criminal incidents, arrests and convictions from interviews. More significantly to this study, they will enable another view of the evolution of the Latin Kings by analyzing media coverage of the Latin Kings. A content search of the archives of The Chicago Sun-Times as well as a search in the archives of any community newspapers or alternative media outlets will provide excellent overall coverage of this key element.

No look at secondary sources would be complete without analyzing literature produced by the organization in question. Though I have yet to come across published, printed works created by the Latin Kings themselves, preliminary research has already led to a number of Latin Kings websites (of course, after confirming the authenticity of these sites through contacts with the organization itself). Several of these websites have published what appears to be the Latin Kings constitution. Once the research project is well underway, I fully expect to come across more Latin King literature which will be useful in describing the groupâs evolution to its current stage.

In order to better illustrate the latent functions the Latin Kings may provide as an institution in their community (see Jankowski, 1991; Venkatesh, 1997), it will be important to identify community problems and needs. This kind of data is readily available: I have already found sources for data on Humboldt Park, including age and ethnic distribution, median income levels, levels of public aid, birth data, leading causes of death, STD levels, etc. (Chicago Community Area Health And Demographic Data, 1998). My previous work as a community organizer in Bushwick will make it very easy to obtain similar data for that neighbourhood .

The rationale for doing qualitative research on the Latin Kings has been eloquently stated by the majority of researchers who have done work on gangs over the last decade or so. John Hagedorn cites the changing nature of gangs, their diversity of types, structure, activities and roles in pressing for more case studies (1990).

Specifically, I hope to combine in-depth interviewing with current and former members of the Latin Kings as well as interviews with relevant actors (e.g. community leaders, police officers, local residents, social workers, etc.) with observations from the field, to

obtain a larger picture of the world of the Latin Kings by including as many relevant perspectives as possible. This will give me the best information regarding the roles played by the Latin Kings as seen by the community, social control and state agents, and the Latin Kings themselves.

"Getting in" is always a problem for researchers investigating groups like the Latin Kings (Hagedorn). This problem can be further compounded when the community consists largely of people of a different ethnic group than that to which the researcher belongs. This is not to say that access is impossible to obtain, and several strategies show promise for facilitating entry into the field.

Hagedorn stresses that identifying and approaching gang leaders first is one way to ease the researcherâs way into the gangâs world. The leaders of the northside and southside factions of Chicagoâs Latin Kings have already been identified in preliminary research (Chicago Crime Commission), as has the leader of the Almighty Latin Kings and Queens Nation in New York City, along with his lawyer (Author Unknown, 1998). Additionally, contacts have been obtained with a Puerto Rican cultural center in Humboldt Park that has contacts with Latin King members and could also facilitate access.

Another possibility is to establish relations with organizations on good terms with groups like the Latin Kings. There are organizations in place in New York whose objectives are to broker "peace treaties" between warring gangs (Venkatesh, 1997). These organizations often utilize high-ranking former members of gangs as well as imprisoned members, and have excellent contacts with active gang members. These groups present the researcher with an excellent opportunity to gain access and establish credibility with members of groups like the Latin Kings without encountering some of the problems associated with gaining access through contact with the police or legal system, with imprisoned members of the group or with low-ranking members whose suspicions may only be alleviated with endorsements of the researcher from well-known and high-ranking group members.

Adamson, Christopher. Defensive localism in white and black: a comparative history of European-American and African-American youth gangs. Ethnic & Racial Studies. v. 23 no2, Mar. 2000, p. 272-98.

Atwood, Matt, "Members Of 'Notorious' Gang Speak To Students," The Williams Record, November 11, 1997.

Author Unknown, "âOperation Crownâ: The Political Persecution of the Latin Kings," Revolutionary Worker, #959, May 31, 1998.

Author Unknown, "Latin Kings," New York State Correctional Officers Informational (sic) Page website, on-line: http://www.oocities.org/MotorCity/Downs/3548/gangs/lk.html

Bowditch, Christine. "Getting Rid of Troublemakers: High School Disciplinary Procedures and the Production of Dropouts." Social Problems. Vol. 40, No. 4. pp. 493-509.

The Center For Health Administration Studies University of Chicago, "Chicago Community Area Health And Demographic Data," on-line: http://www.chas.uchicago.edu/healthdata/atlas/.

Chicago Crime Commission, "Gangs: Public Enemy Number One," on-line: http://www.velocity.net/~acekc/CCC%20Gang%20Book%20-%20Main%20Text.htm

Connecticut South-East Gang Activities Group, "Latin Kings," November 2000, on-line: http://www.segag.org/frlkings.html.

Hagedorn, John. People and Folks: Gangs, Crime and the Underclass in a Rustbelt City (Chicago: Lakeview Press), 1988.

Jankowski, Marten Sanchez. Islands in the Street: Gangs and Urban American Society. (Berekely: University of California Press), 1991.

Moore, Joan, Diego Vigil and Robert Garcia, "Residence and Territoriality in Chicano Gangs," Social Problems, Vol. 31, No. 2, December 1983, pp. 182-194.

Moore, Joan. Going Down To The Barrio: Homeboys and Homegirls in Change. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press), 1992.

Murphy, Sheigla, Dan Waldorf and Craig Reinarman. "Drifting Into Dealing: Becoming A Cocaine Seller." Qualitative Sociology. Vol. 13. pp. 452-472.

Padilla, Felix. The Gang as an American Enterprise. (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press), 1992.

Petersen, Rebecca D. Definitions of a gang and impacts on public policy. Journal of Criminal Justice. v. 28 no2, Mar./Apr. 2000, p. 139-49.

Rovira, Carlos, "Speak Out Against Racism And They Call You A Gangsterâ- Interview With Latin Kings and Queens Leader," WorkersâWorld, December 11, 1997.

Ruble, Nikki M. Turner, William L. A systemic analysis of the dynamics and organization of urban street gangs. American Journal of Family Therapy. v. 28 no2, Apr./June 2000, p. 117-32.

Sullivan, Mercer, Getting Paid: Youth Crime and Work in The Inner City. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press), 1989.

Thrasher, Frederic. The Gang: A Study of 1,313 Gangs in Chicago. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press), 1936.

Venkatesh, Sudhir Alladi. The Social Organization of Street Gang Activity in an Urban Ghetto. American Journal of Sociology, 1997, 103, 1, July, pp. 82-111.

Venkatesh, Sudhir Alladi. Gender and outlaw capitalism: a historical account of the Black Sisters United "girl gang". Signs. v. 23 no3, Spring 1998, p. 683-709.

Whyte, William. Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), 1955.

Williams, Terry Moses. The Cocaine Kids: The Inside Story of a Teenage Drug Ring. (Reading: Addison-Wesley Publishing), 1989.

The Latin Kings are one of the most successful gangs in recent American history, expanding from Latino neighbourhoods in Chicago to many cities and towns throughout the United States. At some point in their recent history, the Latin Kings began to actively resist the label "gang," opting instead to present themselves as a Latino/a informal social movement. (Rovira, 1997).

Why did the Latin Kings begin contesting the "gang" label, preferring instead one typifying them as a social movement and what impact has this position had on their relationship with other institutions in the community, if any? This question addresses how deviant collectivities contest and challenge authority and particularly how they resistance the labels social control agencies put upon them. It also examines relationships between actors and institutions in impoverished communities and promises to further the body of knowledge regarding the interactions of gangs, social control agencies and the broader communities they are embedded in.

The academic literature on gangs has been influenced for decades by work from the Chicago school (Thrasher, 1936; Whyte, 1943), but began seeking new explanations when the character of American street gangs began to change (Moore et al., 1983: p. 183). By the 1980âs, sociologists began to look for new explanations, leading to a new emphasis on ethnographic research, which in turn moved the focus on gangs to the activities the gangs were involved in ö particularly the organizational structures of gangs (Hagedorn, 1988; Jankowski, 1991;Ruble and Turner, 2000).

Many studies noted that economic changes in a community, particularly the decline of the manufacturing sector, decreased economic opportunities (Mercer, 1989; Moore, 1992; Adamson, 2000). Gangs soon became avenues for economic opportunities otherwise denied young people living in these communities (Sullivan, 1989; Williams, 1989; Venkatesh, 1997). This in turn facilitated the institutionalization of the gang, furthered by the "corporatization" effect of drug trade activities (Venkatesh, 1997). In this context, gangs often assumed institutional functions for the community in which they were embedded ö functions normally filled by state institutions, as well as functions that typify some social movements. Given this, it is interesting that the Latin Kings have rejected the label "gang" in favour of labels promoting a view of their organization as a social movement. If how members themselves define gangs is crucial to understanding gang activity (Peterson, 2000), it is of equal importance when members no longer define their organization as a gang.

Have the communities in which the Latin Kings operate experience a combination of economic downturn and a reduction of social services and, if so, how did this impact the role of the Latin Kings in relation to their communities? If such an economic transformation occurred, did it contribute to the apparent re-conceptualization of the Latin Kings as a social movement by its own members? How are the Latin Kings viewed by the members of the community and by other social institutions? Can interactions between the Latin Kings and the police be characterized as those typical of interactions between competing institutions? These are questions best answered by ethnographic fieldwork with the Latin Kings themselves and with their surrounding communities.

The methodology I propose to use for my research on the Latin Kings will combine ethnographic data obtained by field observation and in-depth interviews of the relevant actors (current and former Latin Kings, community members and leaders, representatives of state and social control agencies) with analyses of secondary sources. Two neighbourhoods in Chicago and Brooklyn have already been identified as good potential research sites with active Latin Kings factions, as have the leaders of these factions.

Ethnographic research in these communities will yield the best information regarding the roles played by the Latin Kings as seen by the community, social control and state agents, and the Latin Kings themselves.

Secondary sources will provide a reliable way to verify qualitative data, as well as enabling another view of the evolution of the Latin Kings by analyzing media coverage. A content search of the archives of local and community newspapers will yield much of the data needed for this. Though I have yet to come across published, printed works created by the Latin Kings themselves, preliminary research has already led to a number of Latin Kings websites and what appears to be the Latin Kings constitution. This type of movement literature will be useful in describing the groupâs evolution to its current stage.

In order to better illustrate the latent functions the Latin Kings may provide as an institution in their community (see Jankowski, 1991; Venkatesh, 1997), it will be important to identify community problems and needs. This kind of data is readily available for both research sites, including including age and ethnic distribution, median income levels, levels of public aid, birth data, leading causes of death, STD levels, etc. (Chicago Community Area Health And Demographic Data, 1998).

"Getting in" is always a problem for researchers investigating groups like the Latin Kings (Hagedorn). One way is to identify and approach gang leaders. Leaders for Latin Kings factions in both proposed research sites have been identified. Additionally, contacts have been obtained in one of the neighbourhoods with a Puerto Rican cultural center that has contacts with Latin King members and could also facilitate access.

Another possibility is to establish relations with organizations on good terms with groups like the Latin Kings. There are organizations in place in New York whose objectives are to broker "peace treaties" between warring gangs (Venkatesh, 1997). These organizations often utilize high-ranking former members of gangs as well as imprisoned members, and have excellent contacts with active gang members.

Adamson, Christopher. Defensive localism in white and black: a comparative history of European-American and African-American youth gangs. Ethnic & Racial Studies. v. 23 no2, Mar. 2000, p. 272-98.

Atwood, Matt, "Members Of 'Notorious' Gang Speak To Students," The Williams Record, November 11, 1997.

Author Unknown, "âOperation Crownâ: The Political Persecution of the Latin Kings," Revolutionary Worker, #959, May 31, 1998.

Author Unknown, "Latin Kings," New York State Correctional Officers Informational (sic) Page website, on-line: http://www.oocities.org/MotorCity/Downs/3548/gangs/lk.html

Bowditch, Christine. "Getting Rid of Troublemakers: High School Disciplinary Procedures and the Production of Dropouts." Social Problems. Vol. 40, No. 4. pp. 493-509.

The Center For Health Administration Studies University of Chicago, "Chicago Community Area Health And Demographic Data," on-line: http://www.chas.uchicago.edu/healthdata/atlas/.

Chicago Crime Commission, "Gangs: Public Enemy Number One," on-line: http://www.velocity.net/~acekc/CCC%20Gang%20Book%20-%20Main%20Text.htm

Connecticut South-East Gang Activities Group, "Latin Kings," November 2000, on-line: http://www.segag.org/frlkings.html.

Hagedorn, John. People and Folks: Gangs, Crime and the Underclass in a Rustbelt City (Chicago: Lakeview Press), 1988.

Jankowski, Marten Sanchez. Islands in the Street: Gangs and Urban American Society. (Berekely: University of California Press), 1991.

Moore, Joan, Diego Vigil and Robert Garcia, "Residence and Territoriality in Chicano Gangs," Social Problems, Vol. 31, No. 2, December 1983, pp. 182-194.

Moore, Joan. Going Down To The Barrio: Homeboys and Homegirls in Change. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press), 1992.

Murphy, Sheigla, Dan Waldorf and Craig Reinarman. "Drifting Into Dealing: Becoming A Cocaine Seller." Qualitative Sociology. Vol. 13. pp. 452-472.

Padilla, Felix. The Gang as an American Enterprise. (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press), 1992.

Petersen, Rebecca D. Definitions of a gang and impacts on public policy. Journal of Criminal Justice. v. 28 no2, Mar./Apr. 2000, p. 139-49.

Rovira, Carlos, "Speak Out Against Racism And They Call You A Gangsterâ- Interview With Latin Kings and Queens Leader," WorkersâWorld, December 11, 1997.

Ruble, Nikki M. Turner, William L. A systemic analysis of the dynamics and organization of urban street gangs. American Journal of Family Therapy. v. 28 no2, Apr./June 2000, p. 117-32.

Sullivan, Mercer, Getting Paid: Youth Crime and Work in The Inner City. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press), 1989.

Thrasher, Frederic. The Gang: A Study of 1,313 Gangs in Chicago. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press), 1936.

Venkatesh, Sudhir Alladi. The Social Organization of Street Gang Activity in an Urban Ghetto. American Journal of Sociology, 1997, 103, 1, July, pp. 82-111.

Venkatesh, Sudhir Alladi. Gender and outlaw capitalism: a historical account of the Black Sisters United "girl gang". Signs. v. 23 no3, Spring 1998, p. 683-709.

Whyte, William. Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), 1955.

Williams, Terry Moses. The Cocaine Kids: The Inside Story of a Teenage Drug Ring. (Reading: Addison-Wesley Publishing), 1989.