A master thesis from Aalborg University
Gadens ekko i hjemmet: Forældreskab i et udsat boligområde: Et kvalitativt kriminologisk studie af forældreskab i Grønlandskvarteret (Aalborg) med særligt fokus på forældrenes forestillinger om og erfaringer med GT-banden, samt dets påvirkning på forældreskab og hverdagslivet.
[When The Echo of The Streets Resonates at Home: Parenting in a high-risk neighbourhood]
Forfatter(e)
Semester
4. semester
Uddannelse
Udgivelsesår
2025
Afleveret
2025-06-02
Antal sider
88 pages
Abstract
When The Echo of The Streets Resonates at Home: Parenting in a high-risk neighbourhood (2025) is a qualitative criminological study based on semi-structured interviews with five informants from the neighbourhood Grønlandskvarteret in Aalborg, Denmark. The study aims to explain how the presence of a local gang (GT-banden) affects families in the area, and how parents adapt different parental strategies in order to protect their children. To answer these questions, we have divided the analysis into two parts. The first part examines the parents’ conceptions about and experiences with the local gang and crime in their area. This part focuses solely on the empirical data generated from the interviews in order to respect and emphasise the voices of the parents. In this part we identify three common conceptions about the gang. The first conception focuses on the fact that not all of our informants recognise the local gang as a gang. Furthermore, this part illustrates that our informants do not physically fear the young members of the local gang. The second conception revolves around the parents’ fear of gang recruitment. The parents are worried that the gang is actively recruiting new members and that their children will take part in the gang and criminal activities. Moreover, the two ethnic minority mothers fear that their sons will be identified as part of the gang by outsiders, including the police, due to their ethnic characteristics. Lastly, we have identified a common fear amongst the informants. They all express how the conflict with another local gang may claim innocent victims who were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. In the second part of the analysis, we examine how the different conceptions affect the parents in their everyday life by introducing Social Bond theory (Hirschi 2002) Stigma theory (Goffman 2009), The Code of the Streets (Anderson 1999) and coping strategies (Romero et. al 2022) along with existing research to support our analytical claims. In this part of the analysis, we argue that the ethnic minority informants face a two-sided worry: Having to protect their children from gang involvement whilst also having to protect them from discriminating and stigmatising behaviour from the outside world. In order to do so they use surveillance and communications as key parental strategies, and they teach their children to ignore discriminating behaviour and instead deal with the stress of this behaviour behind closed doors. Additionally, we argue that our informants control their children’s social bonds by managing friendships and ensuring school attendance in order to prevent recruitment and victimisation. Lastly the study shows how the parents utilise collective resources in the neighbourhood to increase surveillance and strengthen the children’s social bonds to conventional society.
Emneord
Kolofon: Denne side er en del af AAU Studenterprojekter — Aalborg Universitets studenterprojektportal. Her kan du finde og downloade offentligt tilgængelige kandidatspecialer og masterprojekter fra hele universitetet fra 2008 og frem. Studenterprojekter fra før 2008 kan findes i trykt form på Aalborg Universitetsbibliotek.
Har du spørgsmål til AAU Studenterprojekter eller Aalborg Universitets forskningsregistrering, formidling og analyse, er du altid velkommen til at kontakte VBN-teamet. Du kan også læse mere i AAU Studenterprojekter FAQ.