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Item "Hard-hard-solid! : Life histories of Samoans in Bloods youth gangs in New Zealand" : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2014) Faleolo, Moses Ma'aloAlthough New Zealand is home to the largest Samoan population outside of Samoa, there have been few studies of Samoan youth in gangs in New Zealand. This study sought to establish why Samoan youth gangs have formed in New Zealand urban centres, and why some young Samoan males are attracted to these gangs. This study used Delinquency Theory to explore the reasons for Samoan youth gang formation, and Socialization Theory to explore both how the cultural and societal socialization of young Samoan males lead them to gangs as well as how socialization within gangs secures their commitment to high risk and potentially dangerous behaviour. Life histories were collected over an eighteen month period from 25 young Samoan males aged over sixteen years who were members of various Bloods gangs. Findings from studies of socialization experiences confirmed that various socio-cultural strains weaken controls and led people into gangs, where they are then ‘re-socialized’ by their new gang peers. These life histories revealed gang members’ reasons for both joining and for leaving gangs and the extent to which Samoan cultural values and practices shape gang values and practices. This study also sought to establish whether these insights might suggest strategies which would make gangs less attractive and save young men from dangerous behaviour which impacted on their life chances in later life. A comprehensive overview of anti-gang strategies suggested that, in the light of these findings, some are likely to be more effective than others. It is recommended that a Pacific criminology should be developed to supplement existing theoretical perspectives on youth gangs and that a multi-faceted approach is required in order to address the Samoan youth gang phenomenon and to account for unique cultural factors of the local social context.Item Public perceptions, gang "reality" and the influence of the media : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology(Massey University, 1997) Green, AlexandraThis research was designed to address the hypothesis that there is a wide disparity between how the public perceive gangs and the 'reality' from the gang's perspective and; that in part, the New Zealand media are responsible for this difference, portraying a negative image of gang members. Sixty members of the Horowhenua public and seven gang respondents were interviewed. The small sample size of the gang respondents made it impossible to statistically compare the two groups. Analysis was carried out on the spoken discourse of the public and gang respondents and the printed discourse of the news media. Chi square analysis was used on the public respondent sample. Demographic characteristics of the public respondents such as gender, ethnicity and employment status resulted in observable differences in the public's perceptions of gangs. In particular, feelings of having a gang resident in their neighbourhood, estimates on the number of people involved with gangs in New Zealand and perceptions of the media accuracy in reporting about gangs. Previous contact with a member of a gang was also found to influence respondents' perceptions of media accuracy. Increasing the sample size is likely to clarify these findings. Ethical and practical implications in conducting research on gangs are discussed and suggestions for future research are identified. Some practical implications of the present findings are mentioned.