SUBKULTURA GANGSTERSKA W MEKSYKAŃSKIEJ SPOŁECZNOŚCI TRANSNARODOWEJ JAKO PRZYKŁAD TRANSFERU SPOŁECZNEGO
GANG SUBCULTURE IN A MEXICAN TRANSNATIONAL COMMUNITY AS AN EXAMPLE OF SOCIAL REMITTANCE

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to describe a gang subculture that has emerged in a Mexican pueblo and to explain its origin. Explanations which indicate the globalization of culture are insufficient, as long as they leave the question why this certain subculture appeared in pueblo unanswered. The author of the article, using the ethnographic data which she has collected in Mexico, explains that the gang subculture is a social remittance transferred from the U.S. by the migrants. The concept of social remittances introduced by Peggy Levitt seems to be the most suitable explanation due to the migratory character of the community. Migrants from the pueblo under study are connected with their hometown and with other migrants both in Mexico and in the U.S. As a result of sixty years of spatial mobility, the community has turned transnational. In the transnational space of the community, monetary and social remittances are exchanged. The author shows, however, that the concept of social remittances does not lead to explain how an urban subculture could be transferred to a rural community. In order to explain the conditions necessary for a successful remittance, it is crucial to take into account the world-system localization of the places between which the remittances flow and understand life opportunities of the members of a transnational community. In spite of the fact that the community under study is located both in the center and periphery, the youth join gangs, on either side of the state border, due to their discontent and in search of alternative patterns to an oppressive social structure.

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