The phenomenon of youth gangs as collective mobilization in Central America

This article looks for possible explanations of the so-called Mara. It relies on some arguments of social movement theory. Not being precisely a social movement, the Maras, as a social organization, might fit within some premises of the collective action theory. They have some characteristic of the...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Rivera Zúñiga, Rosalba Elizabeth
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2006
País:México
Institución:UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE MÉXICO
Repositorio:Estudios Latinoamericanos
Idioma:español
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/50218
Acceso en línea:https://revistas.unam.mx/index.php/rel/article/view/50218
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:maras
collective action
social movements.
acción colectiva
movimientos sociales.
Descripción
Sumario:This article looks for possible explanations of the so-called Mara. It relies on some arguments of social movement theory. Not being precisely a social movement, the Maras, as a social organization, might fit within some premises of the collective action theory. They have some characteristic of the new social movements. It is clear that (in Central America) there isn't interest in transforming society. People aren't engaging in revolution. But there are ideas and other types of energies developing in the marginal areas. The author also intends to see the Maras as social phenomena based on the theoretical premises of collective identity, emphasizing the importance of war, cultural violence, marginalization and globalization. Why these forms of juvenile expressions have developed today, and why they are expanding and reaching out many nations. Also, this paper revises the tribalism proposition, which is quite common in societies considered "modern". The Maras are expressions of those societies.