American street gangs have always been committed to the defense of turf and the attainment of honor. Street gangs have, however, changed markedly with respect to their goals, their age and racial composition, their relationship to the wider political, economic and cultural environment, their commitment to delinquency and their level of violence. These changes have resulted from immigration, population movement, economic transformations, racial and ethnic conflict and the changing fabric of neighborhood and family life. This article identifies and analyses patterns of continuity and change in the American street gang since the 1820s by drawing on Eric Wolf's neo-Marxian analysis of modes of production and Max Weber's analysis of honor-based conflict.
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