The Historical Development of the Skinhead Subculture in Los Angeles
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UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations 1-1-2002 Rage in the city of angels: The historical development of the skinhead subculture in Los Angeles Pete George Simi University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/rtds Repository Citation Simi, Pete George, "Rage in the city of angels: The historical development of the skinhead subculture in Los Angeles" (2002). UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations. 2522. http://dx.doi.org/10.25669/1ihb-552s This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. RAGE IN THE CITY OF ANGELS: THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SKINHEAD SUBCULTURE IN LOS ANGELES by Pete Simi Bachelor of Arts Washington State University 1995 Master of Arts University^ of Nevada, Las Vegas 1999 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology Department of Sociology College of Liberal Arts Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas May 2003 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3091811 UMI UMI Microform 3091811 Copyright 2003 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Dissertation Approval The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas -A p r il, 18 ,20Q3_ The Dissertation prepared by —P ete Si.ml— — -------------- Entitled Page 1n the City of Ange-les.;— the Hlst-orical development of the Skinhead Subculture In Los Angeles___________________________________ is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DojCLtQr_ of Philosophy i n Sociology Examination Committee Chair Dean of the Graduate College Examination Conpmjttee Member B^mipation Committee Member Graduate College Faculty Representative 1017-52 11 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT Rage in the City of Angels: the Historical Development of the Skinhead Subculture in Los Angeles by Pete Simi Dr. Barbara Brents and Dr. Simon Gottschalk, Examination Committee Chair(s) Professor(s) of Sociology University of Nevada-Las Vegas This study examines the historical development of the racist skinhead subculture in Los Angeles. The skinhead subculture is a highly diverse network of gangs that has experienced significant changes over the last twenty-five years. 1 use an in-depth case study approach that relies upon extensive observation of and interviews with current and former skinheads to explain how and why L.A. skinhead gangs have changed over time. I argue that the Los Angeles skinhead subculture has moved through three phases of organizational emphasis which 1 characterize respectively as social, political, and economic oriented gangs. My aim is to analyze how skinheads have absorbed differing and almost contradictory elements since emerging in Los Angeles. In doing so, I show the plasticity and flexibility of skinhead gangs as they adapt and respond to wider social changes and thus challenge previous scholarship that view gang subcultures as relatively static, unchanging phenomena. lU Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................................iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...........................................................................................................vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................ 1 Theoretical Considerations of the Case............................................................................... 3 Situating the Case....................................................................................................................5 Historical Context.................................................................................................................10 The Precedence of Racial Conflict in Southern California.............................................14 LA.: A State of Change....................................................................................................... 18 The Organization of the Study.............................................................................................19 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ...............................................................................23 Defining Gangs..................................................................................................................... 23 Gang Theories....................................................................................................................... 25 Diversity and Change within Gangs....................................................................................26 The Skinhead Literature .......................................................................................................29 Conceptual Roadmap............................................................................................................35 CHAPTER 3 METHODS..................................................................................................... 42 Interviews..............................................................................................................................47 Participant Observation.......................................................................................................49 Data Management and Interpretation.................................................................................52 Ethics and the Fieldwork Process ...................................................................................... 53 CHAPTER 4 INITIAL FORMATION...............................................................................56 Indigenous Sources of the Skinhead Subculture in Southern California ......................... 57 Hardcore and Punk Gangs ................................................................................................... 58 Punks and Racial Politics .....................................................................................................64 The Foreign Roots of American Skinheads ....................................................................... 68 More than Just a Shaved Head: A Skinhead Identity Emerges....................................... 70 Localized Skinhead Gangs: the Growing Salience of Racial Identities ..........................73 Narratives of Dispossession: Social Change and Racial Conflict....................................74 Skinhead Organizational Characteristics ............................................................................80 CHAPTER 5 POLITICIZATION.......................................................................................86 The Transition toward Politics, 1984-1989 ....................................................................... 90 International Links ................................................................................................................93 Domestic Links ..................................................................................................................... 99 Internal Dynamics: Skinheads Develop an “Aryan Identity,” 1989-1994.................... 109 IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Birth of the Hammerskin Nation ......................................................................................110 The Waning of Public Political Activism......................................................................... 112 CHAPTER 6 CRIMINALIZATION............................................................................... 117 The Antecedents of Economic Gangs: the Early Days, 1979-1986 ........................... 119 The Waning of Public Political Activism......................................................................... 122 The Experience of Incarceration..................................................................................... 123 The ‘Meth’ Connection.......................................................................................................126 Drugs and Crime: Cleavages in the Skinhead Subculture ............................................ 128 Racism and Economic Gangs............................................................................................ 131 CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................137 Skinhead Dynamism