Intends to understand the gang phenomenon in the United States. This title offers an explanation of the research design, the method of data gathering, the method of data analysis and presentation, and some ethical issues related to the research.

List of Tables and Figures Preface Introduction 1. A Theory of Life, Social Change, and Preservation in Poor Neighborhoods 2. Hosting a Home: Competing Agendas for Life in Public Housing 3. Living Refuge: Social Change and Preservation in the Housing Project 4. Provisions for Life: Making the Mom-and-Pop Store a Neighborhood Institution 5. Taking Care of Business: Social Change and Preservation in the Mom-and-Pop Store 6. Not Just a Clip Joint: Hair Shops and the Institution of Grooming 7. Life on the Edge: Social Change and Preservation in the Hair Shop 8. The Gang's All Here: Fathering a Bastard Institution 9. All in the Family: Mothering the Gang as a Bastard Institution 10. Whither the Neighborhood High School? Contending Roles and Functions 11. School Works: The Dynamics of Two Production Lines Conclusion Methodological Appendix Notes Bibliography Index

"The value of this extraordinary book . . . is that it offers bold and fresh thinking on a subject that desperately needs it. . . .It helps demystify gangs, presenting them as human organizations with human members, not as evil or pitiful creatures to be either despised or patronized." --Leonard Bushkoff, Christian Science Monitor

"Islands in the Street is more than a lively, descriptive report. It is also a highly polished sociological analysis and interpretive story of why youngsters join gangs, why gangs accept them, how gangs are organized, and how they relate to the community, law enforcement, and the media." --Jerome H. Skolnick, The American Prospect

"Specialists in juvenile delinquency, juvenile and criminal justice, and the several disciplines that study these topics will certainly welcome the publication of Islands in the Street. The data and interpretations are likely to be controversial." --James Short, Past President, American Sociological Association

"Vivid, lively, and yet theoretically informed, a triumph of patient and sustained fieldwork. . . . Jankowki presents the gang and its members not as pathological departures from social norms, but as shrewd and resourceful operators." --Michael Lipsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"Comprising a data base that far surpasses that of any other study since 1965, Islands in the street fills a wide gap in the literature on gangs. Jankowski's innovative model of gange participation and organization is important and elegant, guaranteeing that this will be the book on gangs for the next ten years, if not longer." --Ruth Horowitz, University of Delaware