Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs and Street Gangs

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

   PDF

2. Introduction: Scheming Legality and Resisting Criminalization

   • Tereza Kuldova

   Pages 1-23

3. Gangs, Culture, and Society in the United States

   • Martín Sánchez-Jankowski

   Pages 25-43

4. Legalization by Commodification: The (Ir)relevance of Fashion Styles and Brands in Street Gangster Performance

   • Elke Van Hellemont

   Pages 45-68

5. Dutch Gang Talk: A Reflection on the Use of the Gang Label in the Netherlands

   • Robert A. Roks, Teun Van Ruitenburg

   Pages 69-91

6. From Bikers to Gangsters: On the Development of and the Public Response to Outlaw Biker Clubs in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium

   • Kim Geurtjens, Hans Nelen, Miet Vanderhallen

   Pages 93-121

7. Men with a Hobby: Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs, News Media and Image Politics

   • Willem Koetsenruijter, Peter Burger

   Pages 123-144

8. Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs and Struggles over Legitimation

   • Tereza Kuldova, James Quinn

   Pages 145-173

9. Outlaw Bikers Between Identity Politics and Civil Rights

   • Tereza Kuldova

   Pages 175-203

10. Inside the Brotherhood: Some Theoretical Aspects of Group Dynamics in Biker Clubs

    • Stig Grundvall

    Pages 205-223

11. Back Matter

    Pages 225-234

    PDF

This edited collection offers in-depth essays on outlaw motorcycle clubs and street gangs. Written by sociologists, anthropologists and criminologists, it asks the question of how the self-proclaimed ‘outlaws’ integrate into society. While these groups may cultivate a deviant image, these original studies show that we should not let ourselves be deceived by appearances. These ‘outlaws’ are, paradoxically, well integrated into mainstream society. The essays read the relationship of these groups to the media, law enforcement and society through the lens of their strategies of ‘scheming legality’ and ‘resisting criminalization’. These reveal most strikingly how the knowledge of social codes, norms and mechanisms is put to use by these groups.
 
This groundbreaking volume provides answers to previously understudied questions through well-researched case studies drawn from across Europe and United States. With wide-reaching implications for communities around the world, this exciting collection of essays will be of great interest to academics and governmental institutions as well as students and general readers of anthropology, sociology and criminology.
 

• organised crime
• deviance
• deviant studies
• crime and society
• reintegration
• crime in the US
• gang fashion
• Outlaw Biker Clubs
• exclusion
• Resisting Criminalization
• Street Gangster Performance
• Identity Politics
• Brotherhood
• Group Dynamics
• mainstream society
• anti-social behavior
• gang ethnography
• gangsta rap
• Hells Angels Motorcycle Club
• trafficking
• ethnicity, class, gender and crime

“‘Easy Riders?’ or ‘Born to be Wild?’ Or perhaps none of these clichés, according to this new book Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs and Street Gangs edited by Tereza Kuldova and Martín Sánchez-Jankowski. In this vibrant and varied collection, world experts use their theoretical skill as well academic savvy to produce distinct essays which unsettle standardized narratives. A must read for students and academics across social sciences.” (Daniel Briggs, Universidad Europea of Madrid, Spain; author of Dead-end Lives, Policy Press, 2017)

“In this superb collection, Kuldova and Sanchez-Jankowski have recruited a number of researchers whose finely detailed empirical work and sophisticated theoretical work help the criminological research field to rethink the assumptions on which rest the core concepts of ‘deviance’ and ‘integration’. Essential reading for all those who wish to move the social sciences forward.” (Steve Hall, Emeritus Professor of Criminology, Teesside University, UK)

“A richanalysis of contemporary organized crime that will be of interest to the wide popular and scholarly audience.” (Kristin Bergtora Sandvik, University of Oslo, Norway)

• University of Oslo, Blindern, Norway

  Tereza Kuldova

• University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

  Martín Sánchez-Jankowski

Tereza Kuldova is a social anthropologist and Researcher at the University of Oslo, Norway.  She is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Extreme Anthropology.
 
Martín Sánchez-Jankowski directs the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues and the Center for Urban Ethnography at the UC Berkeley, USA.

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