"Homeboys and hoods: gang communication and cultural space"

by Dwight Conquergood

Middle-class American ideology is intensely individualized. Linguists often study interaction through the lens of individual-to-individual interaction. Gangs are entirely group-centered. They say "Hook up or pull up" and it can be physically dangerous to be alone on the streets. They have safety in numbers.

Police literature uses insulting language to discuss gangs, comparing their graffiti (which is intensely meaningful) to dogs urinating on fire hydrants and gang members as animals marking their territory.

Conquergood lived for many years in a gang neighborhood and is sympathetic to gangs. He discusses gang history and how the many small gangs became grouped into the Folks and People Nations. He says that gangs are territorialized but gangs are not divided along racial lines.