Vigil, James Diego. (2007) The Projects: Gang and Non-Gang Families in East Los Angeles. Reviewed by Carlos Pérez, Chapman University

Vigil, James Diego. (2007) The Projects: Gang and Non-Gang Families in East Los Angeles. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press Pp. x + 239         ISBN 978-0-292-71731-2 Reviewed by Carlos Pérez Chapman University August 7, 2009 The Projects: Gang and Non-Gang Families in East Los Angeles is indispensable reading for counselors, teachers, school administrators, researchers, and others who have an interest in understanding the phenomenon of intercity gangs and gang affiliation. The author, James Diego Vigil, completed an extensive ethnographic study in preparation for writing the book, and the data include ethnographic information, interviews, and participant observations of residents from the Pico Gardens community in East Los Angeles. The research was conducted in the projects among marginalized immigrants who are pushed into gang affiliation by social and family breakdowns. According to Vigil, every immigrant group in the history of the United States has experienced the gang phenomenon. The high concentration of poverty and the long persisting socio-economic effects on newly arriving and subsequent generations of migrants and immigrants contribute to the development of gangs. Through the use of a community study approach, the author seeks to highlight the home life dilemmas and community hardships endured by children, youth, and adults, gang members as well as non-gang family members. The principal objective of this study was to uncover the influences that make individuals susceptible to gang affiliation. The research used two conceptual frameworks to investigate gang families and the interaction between macro and micro forces. One of the examinations addressed particular factors such as “multiple marginality,” which depicts several layers of exclusion from mainstream society that have cumulatively shaped some families, especially the youth, to become susceptible to street gang socialization. Another factor is the macro-level functioning of social control in the lives of youth with an emphasis on the mechanisms of the family and associated institutions. Vigil’s research methods included: a) random surveys of project residents; b) ethnographic and survey investigations; c) intensive interviews; d) candid discussions and interactions with parents and children. The book is organized into a dozen chapters in little more two hundred pages, which could be divided into two halves. The first half, chapters one through six, comprise: a) an attempt to understand gang and non-gang families; b) a description of the geographical and socio-economic characteristics of the urban region where the research was conducted; c) an analysis of Pico Gardens and its residents including an account of the origins and rise of the Cuatro Flats barrio gang; d) a description of gang motivation and behavior; e) a description of the gangs themselves through the use of short testimonies; f) an individualized perspective that entails a gang member’s development. The second half of the book, chaptes 7 through 12, consists of: a) the role of female gang members; b) a “push and pull” model by which to view gang and non-gang-involved families; c) an overview of the role and history of intervention and prevention strategies. Furthermore, the “push and pull” factors of the residents of the Pico Gardens community deal with the conditions that drove immigrants to leave their home countries for a better life in the United States. However, the majority of immigrants from Mexico and Central America already arrived with a disadvantage of coming from the lowest stratum of Latin American society that pushed and pulled them into impoverished neighborhoods in order to secure low-priced housing, such as Pico Gardens. The research revealed the existence of several factors and the local neighborhood conditions that have contributed to the formation of the gang and have entrapped gang members in the neighborhood clique. Before inculpating gang participants for opting for the gang life, it is imperative not to overlook the larger societal, racial, linguistic, and socio-economic stratification of urban neighborhoods of predominantly Mexican and Mexican American residents. These neighborhoods include enclaves of impoverished immigrants with few options for social mobility, absence of quality education, and inaccessibility to other social services. In other words, there is a lack of viable, practical, and conventional alternatives for many prospective gang members. The author enumerates “multiple-marginality,” social disenfranchisement of immigrants and the children of immigrants, dilapidated multi-family complexes, breakdown of social control, street socialization, and street identity as a framework to understand the families living in low-income apartment projects. The final chapter recaptures the key issues of the study while pinpointing the pushing and pulling that forces residents into gang involvement. Furthermore, Vigil also found the following factors influencing gang affiliation: a) the creation of street elites as role models for the youth; b) the establishment of a street culture which is duplicated in subsequent generations; c) the inherent burden of fighting for and defending the neighborhood boundaries for protection and self-preservation. In addition, the book presents longitudinal data in a comprehensive narrative style regarding gang and non-gang families expressed in layman’s terms. Considering that the United States is one of the wealthiest nations (Glasmeier, 2006), this book “adds to the tradition of poverty research and elaborates on the association of family dynamics and gang membership . . . . Providing rich, in-depth interviews and observations, the present work examines the wide variation in income and social capital that exists among ostensibly poor residents of a mostly Mexican American background” (Vigil, 2007, p. 3). I can see myself sharing snapshots of information from this book in professional and informal discussions. Vigil superbly emphasizes the interconnectedness of local community issues and individual alternatives to street life in urban centers (Hayden, 2004; Vigil, 1998). The manner in which society may encounter the proliferation of gangs is by directly facing the matter as a genuine endeavor to resolve over-representation of high levels of persistent poverty, second-class education, racial segregation, and discrimination of legal and undocumented immigrants, to cite a few. The focus ought to be on addressing and alleviating the effects of poverty among non-White immigrants. This book accomplishes the objective of distinguishing between gang members and non-gang-affiliated individuals, although both may coexist in the same neighborhood. The wide array of factors, including family size, level of education, and type of occupation, may constitute some of the reasons why some families have gang members and others do not (Gehlke-Baez, 2004). The high numbers of overwhelmed parents, absentee fathers, lack of minimal basic skills, and inability to adequately counsel children result in street socialization and the acquisition of a street culture. The probability of becoming gang members is increased when the traditional family setting is replaced by street socialization and multiple-aged peer groups. Vigil concludes with suggestions for addressing the gang problem. There are two urgent areas that merit immediate attention: law enforcement agencies and parental education. For example, it behooves the police not to allow public housing projects to become or to continue to be war zones since this will only perpetuate the duties and challenges of law enforcement agencies. Moreover, the residents’ mistrust of police needs to be addressed at the highest levels of police departmental policy whereby the LAPD is consistent in serving the community with a proactive and affirmative stance. The LAPD should also work in close-knit collaboration with social service entities, housing police, school police, and with the residents themselves. Another suggestion concerns the adoption of proven parental strategies. Since some parents became parents at an early age, it would be beneficial to provide parent education. For example, the residents “may benefit from learning about the authoritative approach successfully used in many non-gang-affiliated families” (Vigil, 2007, p. 207). Furthermore, such parental education programs could be designed and carried by mothers in the same residential development or by external institutions such as non-profit agencies. Also, older children in the families may aid in reinforcing appropriate limits and monitoring younger siblings. The book could serve as a reference source on poverty, immigrants, gangs, and non-gang-affiliated residents who coexist in the same communities with gang members. As an English as a Second Language (ESL) instructor to primarily adult immigrant students, I see myself discussing this study with fellow educators and school administrators regarding the challenges many students encounter as parents, laborers, and immigrants, both legal and undocumented. Vigil does not glorify gang membership nor does he minimize the criminal activity of the gang; but at the same time he presents the residents as people, including gang members and non-gang-affiliated persons, who experience the consequences and hardships of being immigrants who are impoverished, segregated, and frequently subjected to discrimination. Once again, counselors, educators, and researchers will benefit from becoming informed of the forces that cause the formation and continuation of gangs, especially among stigmatized, low-income, and low-skilled immigrants. References Gehlke-Baez, R. A. (2004). The relationship between Hispanic gangs and the structure of the Hispanic family. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Dissertation Services. Glasmeier, A. K. (2006). An atlas of poverty in America: On nation, pulling apart, 1960- 2003. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. Hayden, T. (2004). Street wars. New York: New Press. Vigil, J. D. (1998). From Indians to Chicanos: The dynamics of Mexican American culture. 2nd Ed. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland. About the Reviewer Carlos Pérez holds a bachelor's degree in sociology from Vanguard University of Southern California, and a master's degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Since obtaining a teaching credential from California State University, Long Beach he has worked as an English as a Second Language (ESL) instructor to adult students in Los Angeles County and Orange County, California. He is a Ph.D. student at Chapman University.