In the movie Gangs of New York, many different gangs, the most important being the Natives and the Dead Rabbits, vie for power over the region called the Five Points during the Civil War time period. Within the movie there were many different examples containing social class privilege, status, and power. The examples were shown by both the gangs and the individuals that the gangs were compromised of. The purpose of this paper is to analyze these examples of social class and privilege, status, parties, and power that were in the movie Gangs of New York.
In “Class, Status, Party,” by Max Weber, Weber defines a class as any group of people that happen to be facing the same class situations, or problems (Weber). Both of the two main gangs in
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So, with that outlook, the Gangs of New York can be viewed as parties. The Dead Rabbits had their cause of wanting more rights in society, the personal goal of Amsterdam’s to kill the Butcher’s, and the ultimate goal of obtaining more power for themselves. Wheras, the Natives had their cause that focused on reducing the immigrants and ethnic minorities, due to their personal dislike of said minorities, and once again, the ultimate goal of obtaining more power. So, the two gangs, the Natives and the Dead Rabbits, are parties (Weber). Parties are only possible in communities that are “societalized,” (Weber) which means the parties have to at least have some rational order and people ready to enforce that order. The Natives were “societalized,” and had no problem with enforcing order with brutality. The Dead Rabbits on the other hand, had to work their way up to becoming a party during the course of the movie, because at first, and for the majority of the movie, they were more like an underground revolution or rebellion. The Dead Rabbits acted like insurgents who had no former leader, they just reported to each other and worked together, sometimes to earn money. This dynamic was shown when Amsterdam and Johnny went to sell the loot they gained from a fire. The whole group was chaotic. The group was in disarray, and only concerned with money, money that was so easily taken away by Sherriff Mulraney; all due to the group’s lack of leadership and organization. Through Amsterdam’s leadership and set goals, he organized them, the immigrants and the Dead Rabbits, into a party that had a substantial force. Amsterdam’s group was also able to enforce their newly gained order with the election of Sheriff McGinn, one of the Dead Rabbit’s
Class is a “relational social categorization based on economic, cultural, and social characteristics” (Barnes 2016) this includes a person’s: income and wealth, networks and connections, cultural knowledge, and social status. When a person has a high social status, that often means that they have more power in society compared to a person who is in a lower social class than they. A good example of class and how it separates the lower classes from the higher classes are private schools. Private schools are often very expensive and people who are in lower class systems often cannot afford to send their kids their, causing an even larger gap between classes. In Conley’s memoir, with him switching schools from a public, working class school to a private, middle class school shows how the schools that people go to can greatly effect their
The book emphasizes the idea of how difficult it is to leave the gang lifestyle. There are frequent cases of relapse by individuals in the book, who were once out to again return to gangs. This case is brought by what gangs represent to this in the book and what leaving entails them to give up. The definition of gangs presented to the class was, three or more members, share name, color, or affiliation, or must exist in a geopolitical context. To members associated with gangs, this definition can include your family members, neighborhood, everyone that they associate with. Take for example Ronnie from Jumped in by Jorja Leap it states,” Ronny’s role models are gangbangers. His family is a hood. His mentors are older homies in county jail.”(102). Ronnie and other gang members like him do not
The movie Gangs of New York takes place in Lower Manhattan’s Five Points’ neighborhood. It begins in 1846. The main protagonist Amsterdam Fallon, Priest Fallon’s son, watches his father who is the leader of the Dead Rabbit gang prepare and die in battle. As his father is on his last breadths of life giving his son counsel, Billy “the Butcher” Cutting snaps the Priest Fallon’s head. Amsterdam runs away from Cuttings henchmen to hide his father’s knife before he is captured by the Natives gang. He is taken to Hellgate orphanage. In 1862 Amsterdam returns to Five Point’s neighborhood and finds his old friend Johnny Sirocco. Johnny works now for Billy “the Butcher” and introduces Amsterdam to Cutting. Amsterdam makes his way into Cutting’s inner circle of Natives. Amsterdam also meets Jenny Everdeane while hanging out with Johnny. She bumps into Johnny to pickpocket his watch. Amsterdam notices and lets Johnny know. Johnny claims he always lets her take things. As both Cutting and Jenny take a liking to Amsterdam Johnny becomes jealous. He notices young Vallon quickly making his way into Cutting’s gang’s high ranks and into Jenny’s heart. Out of jealousy, Johnny reveals Amsterdam’s true identity to Cutting. Cutting decides to make Vallon angry. He succeeds by playing a dangerous game that involves knives with Jenny at the annual celebration of Priests Vallon’s death. Amsterdam then attempts to assassinate Cutting but fails and is taught a lesson by Cutting. Amsterdam lives at the help of Jenny. To avenge his father he starts the outlawed Dead Rabbit gang up again. He proposes a challenge to Cutting after his friend “Monk” McGinn is killed by Cutting. The fight takes place at Five Points’ neighborhood on the day the ...
On the subject of class, Weber defines class as a group of people that happen to have the same class situation. Class situation refers to the chance for a supply of goods, good external living conditions, personal
Society as a whole, has an interest in categorizing people and groups. Some of these categories are made of people from different social classes. Certain people are similar in the way they live and the amount of money they make so they become categorized together as a certain group. During the Industrial Revolution Karl Marx provided the idea of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie as different social classes. The bourgeoisie being the owners and the rulers and the proletariat being made of the workers and the laborers. From this idea of different social classes, there
The preponderance of crimes in Groveland can be explained using the theories of social disorganization, strain theory, social control theory, and even labeling theory. Social disorganization theory, is emphasized the most throughout the narrative in Black Picket Fences. As described above, the moral fabric of law-abiding citizens and Groveland gangsters alike, contribute to crime being kept a minimum. Furthermore, various efforts of social control on the parts of both parties contribute to crime or lack thereof. In example, by Black Mobsters keeping drug activity in Groveland at a minimum, they are securing their profits on the one hand and deterring additional crime on the other
Gangs of New York is a war-packed film directed by Martin Scorsese that takes place in New York during the Civil War. This 2002 film is about a young Irish immigrant, named Amsterdam, who returns to the Five Points to get revenge on William Cutting, a powerful gang leader who murdered his father. One scene that really sticks out within the film occurs during the draft riots that took place in New York. Although this particular scene is historically accurate, there are some parts of the scene itself that seem to have a bigger impact overall. The parts that create this impact show how important this dark period was and how violently this event played out in the real world.
Tobin, Kimberly. Gangs: An Individual and Group Perspective. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.
Social class has existed in our society since its foundation. Working class, middle class, upper middle class, or upper class, whatever your standing, social class can affect your place in society. Social class can be defined by where you live, who you talk to, where you get an education, even by the clothes you wear. These may not be definite determinants of social class, but categorization of people becomes easier when looking at these factors. In previous papers, I have claimed that social class is a result of capitalism. Though, I still believe this to be true, there are many factors that can affect social class and vice versa. Theorists have looked at different aspects of how these can affect social class. In my paper I am going to explore capitalism, stratification, racism, segregation, and education and their relationship with social class and how this can cause social conflict; I will have a primary focus of how Weber, DuBois, and Marx views this relationship.
This book review covers Policing Gangs in America by Charles Katz and Vincent Webb. Charles Katz has a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice, while Vincent Webb has a Ph.D. in Sociology, making both qualified to conduct and discuss research on gangs. Research for Policing Gangs in America was gathered in four cities across the American Southwest; Inglewood, California, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Phoenix, Arizona. This review will summarize and discuss the main points of each chapter, then cover the relationship between the literature and class discussions in Introduction to Policing and finally it will note the strengths and weaknesses of book.
The presence of gang violence has been a long lasting problem in Philadelphia. Since the American Revolution, gangs have been overpopulating the streets of Philadelphia (Johnson, Muhlhausen, 2005). Most gangs in history have been of lower class members of society, and they often are immigrants into the U.S (Teen Gangs, 1996). Gangs provided lower class teens to have an opportunity to bond with other lower class teens. However over time, the original motive of being in a gang has changed. In the past, gangs used to provide an escape for teens to express themselves, let out aggression, and to socialize with their peers. It was also an opportunity for teens to control their territory and fit in (Johnson, Muhlhausen, 2005). In the past, authorities would only focus on symptoms of gang violence and not the root. They would focus on arresting crime members instead of preventing gang violence. Gangs are beginning to expand from inner-city blo...
Torkildsen (2011) stated that the nature and definition of 'social class' is generally regarded as being problematic, as class not only relates to income or occupation but also upbringing and family background. "social class is often regarded as grouping on the basis of occupation, which is 'socioeconomic class' rather than social class" (Torkildsen, 2011 p.49). divine
Taylor, Carl S. “Gang Imperialism.” Gangs in America. Ed. C. Ronald Huff. London: Sage Publications, 1991.
Gangs are a big part of today’s society. They contribute to a large part of delinquent behavior present in our youth today. Chapter 8- Peer and Delinquency: Juvenile Gang and Groups provides an overview of gangs in general. Providing details as to why they formed their different activities, language and codes. First we must highlight that adolescents are the main focus in gangs. As children grow and go through adolescence they seek peer acceptance. They form cliques. Their group of friends play an important role is social development. The choice to join a gang can be contributed to acceptance and a sense of protection (Siegel).
Gangs have been in existence since the beginning of time. These kind of groups, or gangs, usually participate in several criminal and illegal activities that negatively affect society. These activities include theft, robbery, extortion, rape, and many types of vandalism. Gangs have increasingly became a problem society has often had to deal with. People wonder where and how it all started. It is in fact evident that gangs can change a person’s life in a negative way. Many fall into these bad steps by peer pressure or even movies. Being influenced by what the media projects, accepting peer pressure, and how a person is raised in the wrong household are all examples of how one is led into a gang. These groups have had many negative effects on society for many years. The impacts that gang membership lead to affect society are what people should be aware of.