University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2010 Evolution Of The Folk Devil: A Social Network Perspective Of The Hybrid Gang Label Christian Bolden University of Central Florida Part of the Sociology Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. STARS Citation Bolden, Christian, "Evolution Of The Folk Devil: A Social Network Perspective Of The Hybrid Gang Label" (2010). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 4280. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/4280 EVOLUTION OF THE FOLK DEVIL: A SOCIAL NETWORK PERSPECTIVE OF THE HYBRID GANG LABEL by CHRISTIAN BOLDEN B.S.A.S. Southwest Texas State University, 2003 M.A. Texas State University, 2005 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Sociology in the College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Summer Term 2010 Major Professor: Lin Huff-Corzine © 2010 Christian L Bolden ii ABSTRACT In keeping abreast of current gang phenomena, this study seeks to comparatively examine structural processes and characteristics of gangs in chronic gang city, San Antonio, and an emerging gang city that would be more likely to have “hybrid” gangs, Orlando. Hybrid gangs have been identified as having organizational processes that differ from traditional gangs; thus, this work will examine these processes that consist of a range of non-traditional phenomena, including cooperation between gangs, members switching gang affiliations, gang initiations, and members leaving gangs.