Young Writers Society

Now, I know there's not be-all, end-all answer to the question, "What is gang life really like?" But I would like a few general data so my writing in "The Touch" doesn't make those who've actually been in a gang turn away in disgust.

Things like slang, traditions and so forth will be most appreciated.

Gang culture and everything associated with it depends heavily on location. You're going to have to be more specific.

Near Philadelphia, I think. And the story is set in 2051, if that helps anything.

I think predicting about street life at that time, 2051 is a bit hard, but hey, a bit of everything stays right?

There are actually two classifications of gangsters, mob and street. I'll just give you a heads up about them, because the culture from the time and place you're settling your characters in are all up to you.

Mob
The original mafia masters, real gangsters are part of a criminal group which more or less tried to come up through the enterprise of economy. Organizations like this seem shady, hiding here and there, acting and pretending and all. But they do mean business, and if you can't keep a secret, you'd better be careful for you might see a bullet in the head the next time around. This had seemed to become the mantra of mobs, secrecy. All transactions are done carefully and if there are 'problems' or 'pests' in between those activities, death follows.

Common stuff profoundly found in/on/from mobsters are weapons of mass destruction, contact numbers to a lot of illegal companies and a cupful of wit and trash talk.

Street
The evolution of human society have pulled the deadly gangsters down a level a bit, making them simply full of trash talk and petty thievery. Usually street gangsters follow a certain ruler-ship like penguins. I like penguins. They usually see a leader from a pack of dirty grits, one with the guts to lead the gang into cheap beat-ups. The other gangsters usually loyally follow the leader and stand as his wingmen. Unlike mobs who make trouble within the internal economy of the society, street gangsters are usually bound by young adult confusion and cause trouble in bars or streets. More dangerous streeters though, commit murder and more heinous crimes, usually under the influence of bad drugs.

Anyways, as I've said, if you're trying to find a variation for the character, then use your own cultures established around the place and time of your choice, Above are only templates of the life under the hood.

Hope I helped.

yours indefintely,
Alf

Using Google Scholar with these terms will net you some interesting results:

gang philadelphia -biology -medical -medicine -biomedical -medicinal -bioorganic -molecular

The long list of excluded terms is important since Gang is a common Chinese name, and there are a lot of Gangs writing in the field of biology.

I am going to say, seeing as how I live relatively close to Philly, that the gangs there are notoriously violent. Philadelphia is sometimes called Killadelphia, and it's for very good reasons.

I thought I could be more helpful, but I believe I know more about poverty than gangs. On the other hand, I think I can be mildly helpful in some ways.

Even in the future, gangs will provide the same basic function. That is, they are formed of people of similar mindset, cultural background, and region. They are a group of people who seek protection and/or power, power gained through violence or monetary gain. They are trying to improve themselves, but perhaps in the 'wrong' way. In some places, you don't have much choice to be in a gang or not, because children are groomed into the positions that are required, often starting off as drug mules. Speaking of, gangs generally start in areas of poverty wherein the hope of making money through 'honest work' seems to be pure fantasy. They figure the places are already dangerous enough, but maybe they could build something that would mean no one would dare touch them or those they care about. It could be anything, really. Drugs, sex, alcohol, etc. Depends on the place. Something that people will pay a lot for, and not feel comfortable talking about, more or less.

Normally gangs pick up the idea of 'flags', which is a basic human impulse. While they might not wave the stars and stripes, they give hand signals, wear clothes a particular way, try to have a 'look', kill or torture in particular ways, etc. Patterns form, like with basically any tight-knit sub-group.

The leader of a gang will be like most leaders. That is, he'll be charismatic, a little crazy, smarter than you might assume, and willing to do what it takes to make his life how he wants. They'll be good at rationalizations and controlling or manipulating people. They won't be scared of violence.

Note that while I'm using male pronouns, female gangsters (or pseudo-gangsters) have been around for a long time. That is, you could think of the Amazons as a gang, or you could just Google Hell-cat Maggie (see a 'flag' with her weapon of choice).

That's about all I got, but I hope this was helpful.