Essay Sample on Canadian Male Streets Skinheads: Street Gangs or Street Terrorists

Introduction

The research on Canadian male streets skinheads examined the violent youth behavior about political consciousness in Canada. The extreme violence and oppression among the youths make them have violent behaviors. Also, school experiences, homelessness and the norms of the street promote aggressive behaviors.

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Similar to the recent evidence, the skinheads are found to be extreme racists and violently victimizing the racial and the ethnic minorities. From the description of the skinhead embracement, the political identity has led to the development of political terrorists that prepares to overthrow the government. The familial and economic disability is also characterized by violent groups of youth.

The stark of the Canadian male streets contrast to what is portrayed since the street gang has no defined goal or no shared belief that can make them organized. It is revealed that the street gang is characterized by drug use and violence. Therefore, the skinhead is not a cohesive political group but a group of youths who have dropped out of school and lacked employment. The experiences alienate the skinheads from the society hence causing estrangement exacerbated by economic and social disadvantage. As a result, skinhead violence becomes a family problem. Other academic works are different from this perspective in such a way that they have ignored the deviance of these groups and focus on resolving the marginal status in society. However, Baron (2008) considers the street skinheads as aggressive with the values of the traditional working class.

The critics' argument is based more on the negative elements of the street gangs by treating their violence and crime as features of resistance. In their argument, the painful problems that cause violence are ignored. The interpretations of the gaps and what happens on the street are also criticized thus ignoring the actions that require sympathy in the political hopes. Since most works have relied on media-based presentation as compared to the ethnographic research, the biography and performance have also been ignored. More complication is seen when the academic research among the Canadian scholars focuses on skinhead phenomena outside Canada thus limiting the insights on the exploitation of the skinhead youths. The arguments explore the aspects of the familial and histories on the employment and economic situations without examining the political cohesiveness for the violent change.

Historical Chronologies (Tracing Events Through Time)

The Canadian Male street skinheads were due to the romanticism as a result of ignoring the negative behaviors associated with the street gangs. The familial, educational and economic factors are vital in explaining the skinhead behaviors due to the familial histories and the structural conditions. Also, the familial oppression with the influence of structural forces has been found to affect the skinhead behaviors(Baron 2008). In addition, the intimidation and ridicule influences deviance behaviors among the youth. Therefore, the oppressive experience among the youths in Canada leads to compliance withstreet gangs. Some youth are influenced by parents histories that make them not to feel empathy for other hence victimizing others and also becoming vulnerable and striking out in anger. They are more swayed by the tolerance and expectations for violence thus joining peers who encourage and approve violence.

According to (Baron 2008)", youths from fractured families where there are negative events such as sexual abuse join the street gangs. The youth have been victimized severely by their parents hence exhibit negative behaviors such as violence. As a result of victimization, the youths adopt the political orientation as well as hostility towards various ethnic groups.

The youths in the Canadian Male Streets Skinheads have been tattooed with primitive design on the arms, hands, and chest. From the research, it has been found that 18% of the skinhead youths are between the ages of 15 to 22. It was also revealed that unlike in the United States of America, the youths in Canadian Male Streets Skinheads come from fractured families with only 3% coming from intact families with both biological parents.

The article reflects on the paradigm in such a way that the role of the broken home is seen to be complex. Although the broken homes are not the major contributing factors, the tension and hostility in these families contribute to disruptive activities. As a result, the youths from these families lose respect and become vulnerable to the influences their peers. The housing situation where the skinhead resides is termed as chronically homeless which is interpreted by violence. The majority of the youths have made the streets their homes abandoning the warehouses and walking in aged peers with the goal of forming the skinhead assembly.

From the major Canadian newspaper, Toronto Star of a 1987 feature article about the skinhead with the gang activity highly covered. The article examined how the skinheads engaged in the public strategies of overthrowing the government. Arguably, the article presents the challenge on the social mainstream with the sub-cultural resistance hence drawing attention to the society's hidden contradictions.

The two articles focus on the legal authorities and engagement in the deviant behaviors by youths. They are similar in such a way that they sum up the dilemma facing the social mainstream hence making sense to the activities of the youths.

References

Baron, Stephen W. 2008. "Canadian Male Street Skinheads: Street Gang or Street Terrorists?" Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue Canadienne de Sociologie 34(2):125-54.