Children's gangs. Are youth subcultures in our society good or bad? Why does a child need company?

Our modern culture has begun to lose its former social framework. Old stereotypes have been replaced by new rules. The public has also undergone both external and internal changes. Surely you have met young people with extraordinary appearance on the streets. Youth groups appeared. Youth subcultures are various associations with common values, attitudes, and traditions.

Does the emergence of such groups have a good effect on our society? And what should you do if your child himself is a supporter of one of the subcultures? You will find the answers by reading this article.

How do youth companies arise?

Man is a social being. Each of whom has his own hobbies, interests, views on life. And at a certain moment he wants to communicate with those people who share them. Thus, children's companies are appearing, based on a common view of life that is meaningful to them. With its own orders, values ​​and attitudes.

Already at an early age, when a child leaves the family, first to kindergarten, and later to school, it helps to strengthen the role of communication with peers. The first companies appear, based on common interests and similarities in the character of children. As a rule, they are unstable and temporary.

Your first friends appear in elementary school. Companies acquire a more permanent composition, the main activities of which are general play, interest, and hobbies. In high school, groups are built on respect, understanding for each other, and common views on life. Their composition is more constant and it is very difficult for a teenager to get into an already formed group.

Age groups and companies, closed and isolated from adults, arise because children begin to worry and be interested in those issues that they can openly and without embarrassment discuss only with people very close to them in spirit.

Why does a child need company?

Uniting people into groups based on interests and worldviews is called a subculture. Main functions:

• socialization;
• relieving tension;
• stimulation of creativity;
• compensation.

The company is simply necessary for every person for normal harmonious development and existence. It allows you to self-realize, express yourself and your capabilities. The role of communication is also great, which is necessary for the development of personality. Every teenager needs support and understanding.

A teenage company can give confidence to each of its members and make them stronger.

Household chores, responsibilities, and studies take a lot of energy from a teenager. Overexertion and accumulated fatigue can lead to nervous exhaustion. Adequate rest helps restore strength and relieve tension. Namely, doing what you love, discussing it with friends in the company.

Companies that bring together people based on their interests contribute to the development of creativity and talents of each member. When discussing or implementing their ideas, they act as one team. They voice their ideas, discuss and develop them.

Even trusting relationships in the family do not provide the freedom of speech that a teenager feels in his company. In it, he can calmly discuss all the issues that concern him that he would not dare to discuss at home. And if this is a company formed on the basis of common interests, then he feels at ease in it, whereas at home they may simply not understand him, or not approve of his hobby.

A teenager who has not received enough warmth, love, and attention in the family rushes to the street in search of them.

How does the company influence the child?

The influence of the company on the child is clear. However, teenage ganging can both contribute to the successful socialization of a teenager into life and lead to antisocial behavior. During adolescence, the child’s values ​​and attitudes towards life are actively formed. His authorities and idols are identified. It is often during this period that parents lose their influence on their children.

The company gives new emotions and adventures. The child, wanting to maintain his position in the group, adapts to its rules. As a rule, each group has its own leader or “leader”, who is distinguished by authority, categoricalness, self-confidence and self-confidence, insolence, rudeness, and cruelty.

Common ideas and goals that unite children in groups sometimes have different views on how to achieve them. However, not every child is able to decide to resist his company and their influence. The fear of being rejected, expelled makes the child do rash, thoughtless things. Sometimes even against my will.

Informal groups

Today there are many different types of informal subcultures. Youth subcultures are:

• Goths;
• skinheads;
• graffiti artists;
• rockers, punks, metalheads, rappers and others.

All informal youth subcultures have their own distinctive ideas and values. They have their own attributes and clothing style. For example, representatives of the Emo subculture define their lives through three values: emotions, feelings, reason. They deeply and demonstratively experience everything that happens in their lives. Rockers, punks, metalheads and rappers are informal groups formed on the basis of musical preferences.

The main feature of informal subcultures is their associativity, which manifests itself in the negative attitude of group members towards generally accepted norms and rules. Often their life goals and values ​​contradict universal ones. And to achieve the group's goals, illegal or criminal actions are used.

What are parents worried about?

Parents have plenty of worries when their child reaches adolescence. They worry whether their child will find his own company, whether he will be rejected or an outcast. And if he finds it, how will the company influence him, and will it undermine the authority of his parents?

Parents are also concerned about how the company will affect school performance. Will his behavior, attitude towards life, and his parents change? Often the child is so captivated by the group that he changes not only his lifestyle, but also his appearance. Informal groups can completely change a person.

It is in companies that a child first tries alcohol, smoking, and in some cases, drugs. Every adult worries whether their child will be able to resist the group and defend their views

Help a child

A common mistake made by many parents is a categorical ban on communicating with their child in a company that they do not like. This does not protect the child from the influence of this company, but, on the contrary, pushes him away from his parents.

The correct tactics in the behavior of an adult can not only help the child, but also regain his authority for him. It is important to always be ready to help. Be able to listen to your child. Avoid condemning him or pointing out his shortcomings, since teenagers are very vulnerable and susceptible to criticism.

It is important to correctly and quietly switch his interest from the “bad” company to something new. Engage the child. Completely satisfy his craving for adventure. As an option, you can sign up for sports clubs that enhance the child’s image. For example, in boxing, karate, karting, in the tourism or archeology section. With the emergence of a new hobby, perhaps the emergence of a new company.

Establishing the true reason for a child leaving a bad company will make it possible to return him to the family when it is eliminated. Perhaps he is not accepted or humiliated in class, he feels like an outcast, so in order to compensate, he seeks protection on the side.

Youth subcultures are not always bad. After all, many groups in our country were created to help and benefit humanity. As in the famous work of Arkady Gaidar “Timur and his team”.

It is very important for us, parents, to direct the teenager’s activities towards doing good deeds. And instill a love for the beautiful and the good. Motivated phrases that children should hear will help us with this.

Criminal community is an informal association of teenagers or youth that has its own leaders, a hierarchy of relationships, expressed antisocial goals, organization and discipline, norms and rules of behavior, and certain obligations among themselves.

In each community, a criminal subculture is formed, which significantly affects its members as a socio-cultural environment of upbringing.

Under criminal youth subculture is understood as a set of spiritual and material values ​​that regulate and streamline the life and criminal activities of adolescents and youth of criminal communities, which contributes to their vitality, cohesion, criminal activity and mobility, and the continuity of generations of offenders. The basis of the criminal youth subculture constitute values, norms, traditions, and various rituals of young criminals united in groups that are alien to civil society.

The criminal subculture differs from the usual teenage subculture in the corresponding content of norms governing the relationships and behavior of group members among themselves and with persons outside the group (with “outsiders”, representatives of law enforcement agencies, the public, adults, etc.). It directly, directly and strictly regulates the criminal activity of minors and their criminal lifestyle, introducing a certain “order” into them.

The following are clearly evident in the criminal youth subculture:

• – expressed hostility towards generally accepted norms and its criminal content;
• – internal connection with criminal traditions;
• – secrecy from the uninitiated;
• – the presence of a whole set (system) of attributes strictly regulated in the group consciousness.

encouraging a cynical attitude towards women and sexual promiscuity;

– encouragement of base instincts and any forms of antisocial behavior.

It should be emphasized that the criminal subculture attractive for teenagers and young men with such manifestations as:

• – the presence of a wide field of activity and opportunities for self-affirmation and compensation for failures that befell its members in other life situations (for example, in studies, in relationships with teachers, parents);
• – a process of criminal activity, including risk and extreme situations, colored with a touch of false romance, mystery and unusualness;
• – removal of all moral restrictions;
• – the absence of prohibitions on any information and, above all, intimate information;
• – providing “their” group with moral, physical, material and psychological protection from outside aggression, taking into account the state of age-related loneliness experienced by a teenager.

The criminal subculture is rapidly spreading among young people due to its exceptional activity and visibility. Teenagers and young people are captivated by its outwardly catchy attributes and symbolism, the emotional richness of norms, rules, and rituals.

The nature of the formation of criminal communities is different - from a spontaneous association based on common interests and idle self-indulgence to a special creation for committing crimes.

In the latter case, criminal activity from the very beginning is a group-forming factor and is subordinated to the will of one person - the organizer (leader). In such a group, norms and rules are focused on the values ​​of the criminal subculture. In accordance with this, the structure of the group is determined and the roles in it are distributed:

• – leader:
• – leader’s confidant;
• – encouraged asset;
• – attracted newcomers.

Often criminal groups operate according to laws "flocks". In such a community, teenagers obey the will of the leader or emotions; there is rampant elements in it, provoking its members to be especially sophisticated in mocking the individual, cruelty, and acts of vandalism. The group is formed spontaneously and is also destroyed or criminalized.

In pedagogical practice, it is very important to identify such groups and include their members in organized children's communities, helping to realize the natural needs for communication and joint activities. In case of strengthening of the negative role of the leader, targeted activities are necessary to debunk him or limit his influence, up to and including isolation from the group through placement in a special educational institution.

A type of criminal group, distinguished by special secrecy, great cohesion and clear organization, distribution of functions in the commission of a crime, is gang This is what the Turks called a group of armed men on a boat who attacked lonely ships and robbed them. Currently, it is understood as a group of people who have united for some criminal activity. Such an association, made up of teenagers and young people, may include members:

• – living at a considerable distance from each other;
• – of different ages (including adults);
• – along with males and females as well.

The most characteristic features of the gang's structural organization are: preliminary conspiracy and focus on criminal activity under the leadership of a leader with criminal experience and a strong will. In a gang, teenagers and young men are introduced to criminal traditions, they develop and develop confidence in the possibility of the existence of a non-socially organized environment, they are actively instilled with antisocial views and habits.

The highest type of organized criminal groups includes gang. This is an armed group that commits predominantly violent crimes (robbery attacks on state, public and private enterprises and organizations, as well as on individuals, hostage-taking, terrorist acts). The main characteristics of a gang are its armament and the violent nature of its criminal activities.

One of the important social and pedagogical problems is activities to prevent the formation of criminal communities. In this regard, working with informal groups is of particular importance. It includes the following areas:

• – timely identification of the emergence of a group, establishment of the most frequent places of “hangouts” of children, numerical and demographic composition (small group - 3-5 people or a group of 10-12 or more), the nature of the group’s orientation (asocial / prosocial), cohesion and predisposition to interaction and determining the nature of educational interaction with her;
• – special social and pedagogical work with informal teenage and youth groups to develop a positive orientation, prevent their criminalization, and involve them in formal group activities. Experience shows that working with informal communities is extremely difficult. This is explained by the low effectiveness of measures to influence teenagers from such an association. His adaptability to the informal environment creates favorable conditions for self-realization. He does not need to switch to something else, which requires the creation of more favorable conditions, motivated positive values ​​and ideals;
• – active use of the capabilities of leisure institutions in working with informal groups (clusters): development on their basis of various types of activities that are attractive and popular among young people (rock clubs, fan clubs); organizing and holding a series of events and promotions in the microsociety aimed at attracting young people (holidays, competitions, discos); reorientation of the group towards socially approved activities (creation of temporary jobs, change of the informal leader of the group); finding opportunities to ensure (material and other) the existence of an informal group with a positive orientation (offering various options for employment, socially useful activities, physical education and sports, mastering martial arts), for example, creating a group performing on an official basis on the basis of an amateur musical group;
• – targeted social and pedagogical work with asocial and antisocial groups. Fundamental to determining the strategy for working with a group is the type of its informal leader (physical or intellectual); a set of basic moral, ideological and other values ​​that guide a given group in its life. Taking into account the uniqueness of the leader, the direction and nature of social pedagogical activity is determined to overcome the authority and influence of the leader on group members, changing value orientations and the nature of their implementation;
• – harsh suppression of the prospects of creating a youth group under the leadership of an adult who has convictions of an illegal nature (for example, someone who has returned from prison).

A social educator needs to understand the essence of youth subculture and informal associations. When working with children and youth, understand that many of them may belong to one of the informal organizations, groups, groupings and build their relationships with them taking this factor into account. This means that you should:

• – accept a teenager, a young person belonging to a group, as he is;
• – if possible, include him in a variety of positive activities of the team, actively using his aspirations and skills acquired in an informal group;
• – communicate with him in the logic of a “dialogue of cultures”, gradually working to form an attitude towards the values ​​that he professes;
• – actively support socially valuable initiatives, involving students in the class and school in them;
• – understand the need to provide individual assistance when it actually arises;
• – show fairness, sympathy, understanding of their needs and problems towards students;
• – learn to conduct individual conversations with a student as an “expert”, “adviser”, “guardian”;
• – correctly use your influence on students to clarify the situation.

At one time in the Tyumen club named after. F. E. Dzerzhinsky proposed an original solution to the problem of countering street gangs. The entire street company was invited to the club and, in its previous composition, without breaking up, became a division of the club. There should be a gradual reorientation of the group, a rejection of its previous norms and traditions. This reorganization process consisted of three stages:

• – 1st – group autonomy, when a group is involved in the club team, primarily due to the interest of the group leader;
• – 2nd – leadership reorganization, when there is either a reorientation of the leader due to his inclusion in collective life, or discrediting of the leader who shows the inconsistency of previous forms and methods of managing the group in collective life;
• – 3rd – merger of the group with the club team, when a group ceases to be a closed association and is included in a general system of collective activity and broad connections with all members of the team.

Thus, when working with teenagers and youth associations, there are many approaches that make it possible to ensure the fulfillment of their social needs, strengthen the positive direction of the community’s influence, and prevent and overcome criminalization.

To belong in a children's company means to be able to play by certain rules

In September, two new twin girls came to the seventh grade, where three friends studied: Anna, Sarah and Melanie. After a couple of weeks, all five were already sticking together. But one Monday in November, Anna discovered a crumpled note in her locker that read: “You think you’re cool, but we know your secret. Club.” That day became a real nightmare for Anna. She tried to talk to the twins after class, but they pointedly turned away from her and began to whisper. At dinner, her friends said: “We don’t want to sit with people like you!” Anna sat down at another table, but could not talk to anyone - she watched in panic as her friends whispered, laughed and looked at her slyly. The girl felt terrible. What did she do?

After school, she called Sarah to find out what was wrong, but she coldly replied: “Don't call me again. I can't talk to you.” A couple of days later, one girl blabbed to Anna about what the twins had said in class: they would not accept anyone who spoke to Anna into their group. That same evening, Anna’s mother entered the nursery and saw that her daughter was sobbing bitterly in bed.

Why companies arise

Groups have always existed in any children's group. But they bloom especially magnificently in middle and high schools. At the age of 11–13, almost all boys and girls begin to create companies and secret societies. Instead of playing with one person today and another tomorrow, as was the case in elementary school, they are divided into groups. There is also a hierarchy among the school's companies - your schoolchild can probably tell you who belongs to which group and what level they occupy in the school "value system".

A typical example. I walk into a regular school and immediately notice a group of pretty sixth-graders - probably the most popular girls. Anna, Becky, Julia, Christina and Katie sit at the center table in the school cafeteria, each wearing a red sweater, gray clogs on their feet, brown polish on their nails, black velvet ribbons on their wrists, and their hair in French braids. It is clear that the day before they had spent several hours on the phone discussing this whole form - their expression of solidarity. The beauties' conversation is peppered with special words ("major"), discussions of their favorite rapper and categorical statements about the importance of vegetarianism. And of course, they condescendingly talk about the fact that many of their classmates are no match for them.

Don’t sit here,” the girls say sarcastically when someone wants to join them at the table, “we’re talking.”

During recess, they gather near Julia's locker, whispering secrets and laughing, then suddenly stand in a circle, turning their backs to the girls who are trying to approach them. Many girls would like to become part of this company, but it is hopeless. After all, the main goal and main meaning of the group is to keep others at a distance. If anyone can join a company, what good is it?

To the dismay of parents, children in the same company strive to be as similar to each other as possible. Katie, for example, has always done a ponytail, and now diligently French braids every morning, because Julia, Anna, Becky and Christina want all five of them to look the same. They also made a pact that neither of them would smoke alone. We ourselves behaved exactly the same way. Only in my time we wore straight hair with bangs, plaid skirts, said "cool" and listened to the Beatles, but in everything else we behaved exactly the same.

Compliance with the rules - the so-called concessions to the group - is necessary. This helps children accurately identify who is with them and who is against them. At times, rules are enforced in very harsh ways because children do not yet have experience in social communication. Typically, group members agree on how they will reject outsiders - which is why the most violent children can often end up in the same company.

Why do children want to be in company?

Remember how complex and confusing life seemed to us as children. Surely at some point you had the feeling that the rules of friendship were somehow changing? Indeed, in middle school, boys and girls become more creative when choosing friends. For friendship, a casual acquaintance is no longer enough - a coincidence of interests and values ​​is necessary. This similarity gives the child a familiar sense of security, but at the same time allows him to separate from the family and feel like part of a generation. Children's groups have much in common with families: they usually consist of three to six people who spend a lot of time together and share their most personal problems with each other. Children often form groups under the influence of the adults around them. This happens when teachers and parents constantly compare children and divide them into groups based on ability, appearance and age. In such an atmosphere, children tease each other much more and react more sharply to insults. For example, often in prestigious and expensive private schools, children from elementary school begin to show off to each other their haircuts, backpacks, and stylish designer things. Those who have nothing to boast about experience all the “delights” of the contemptuous attitude of their peers.

Despite the difficulties and concerns of parents, dividing children into groups helps children. Firstly, they are aware of their place in the school hierarchy, and secondly, they master the most important principles of friendship - for example, the fact that the most intimate things are not shared with the first person they meet. Thirdly, communication in a company provides life experience and skills for solving the most important problems: how a person who is rejected feels; how much you can yield to the interests of the group; what is loyalty and betrayal; why friendship ends.

What parents worry about

Girls find it more difficult to exist within a children's group. Dr. Thomas J. Berndt, a psychologist who studies childhood relationship problems, has identified the main differences between groups of boys and girls:

Girls are more selective. If a girl tries to join a group of four girls, she will most likely not be accepted. In the same situation, a group of boys will be more supportive of the newcomer;

Girls worry much more than boys that they will be kicked out of the group, and that others will betray the interests of the group;

Because girls spend more time with one friend, they are more prone to jealousy and competitiveness in the group;

Both girls and boys love gossip, but girls prefer to discuss the thoughts and feelings of others, and boys prefer to discuss actions.

All parents hate to hear their children say nasty things about those who are not in their company. However, Thomas Berndt believes that there is also a benefit to this: children use gossip as a means of strengthening relationships within the group. This is just an attempt to set our own standards.

Another problem that worries adults is the fear that the company will have a bad influence on the child. Indeed, at any age, a child can begin to behave disgustingly just so as not to be left alone. When two best friends decide to go against someone, they tend to get carried away and try to outdo each other in terms of teasing, kicking, pushing and slapping everyone.

Instead of prohibiting such friendships, teach your child to maintain his own line of behavior. And until you are sure that he can withstand the next nasty prank of his friends, try to ensure that they spend time only in your house or under your supervision.

Groups and companies appear much more often in large schools than in small ones. But this does not mean that it will be easier for a child in a small school - after all, those who are not accepted into the group remain outcasts here and cannot organize another company. Despite the apparent cohesion, children's companies fall apart quite quickly. Someone is jealous of someone, someone is quarreling with someone, and soon the children discover that they have much less in common than they thought at first. One of the reasons for such fragility of groups is that at the age of 8–14 years, children change rapidly, both physically and emotionally. This happened to Sam: in the eighth grade, his best friend suddenly grew 10 cm, began playing for the basketball team and found new friends there. And Sam, passionate about computers, joined other boys with similar interests, among whom one turned out to be a real computer genius!

During school years, time is perceived differently. Even two weeks can seem endless to a child who is not accepted into the company. And in general, except in rare cases, companies rarely last longer than one school year.

How to help your child

Some children manage to find a suitable company and establish themselves in it on their own. Others need their parents' help. For example, like Gary, who came to a new school and soon found himself being harassed by one guy. Since Gary did not have time to make friends, no one supported him. The parents helped their son feel less vulnerable. His father enrolled him in a drum studio and trained his son on the football field on weekends. Soon Gary was accepted into the football team, and he had his own group of friends. Being new to the school team is a stressful situation for your child. In the groups that existed at the school for several years, certain relationships had already developed. If children feel insecure in such groups, they are likely to be suspicious of the new kid. They think: what if he changes the relationship in our company? What if he takes my best friend away from me? That is why, if possible, you should not change schools in the middle of the school year - especially when the child is over eight years old. By this point, the children have already split into groups, and your child may remain an outsider for a long time, until the end of the year.

But what if your son or daughter has to start a new class? You can help a child in this situation if you remember your own childhood. Adults underestimate the importance of “correct” clothing for a child’s status. Visit your son or daughter's school before he or she starts. Look at how other children dress and what hairstyles they wear - if certain shoes or jeans of one model are particularly fashionable, try to buy them for your child. Of course, make sure that he wants it himself, because some people really like to be different from others. Teach your child to calmly and with humor respond to possible comments and ridicule in their direction - how they react to this from the very beginning will determine the attitude towards them in the future.

Many children cannot find friends because they do not know how to make friends, they are too timid and shy. Of course, if a child is a loner by nature, it is not necessary to force him to join any children's group. But you need to be sure that he will not hesitate to turn to friends for help in a difficult situation.

From time to time, we all meet adults who do not know how to get along with others - they argue too much, or impose their point of view, or are not interested in anyone but themselves. We say in such cases: “He doesn’t know how to communicate at all.” Likewise, children may lack communication skills. But, unlike adults, children instantly become victims of their peers - they are rejected, teased or ridiculed. Therefore, between the ages of five and thirteen, a child needs to learn how to communicate and make friends, sometimes with the help of parental prompts. The process of joining a group is always the same. Here, seven-year-old Robbie sees a group of boys playing ball during recess. Robbie really wants to join them, but he doesn't know how. The result depends on what he does now - whether he will be accepted into the game and into the company or not. What should Robbie do? Take your time and pay close attention to what is happening. Sit at the edge of the group and observe the behavior of others. Then slowly and unobtrusively try to enter the game. So Robbie began to run along with the others along the edge of the field, not trying to grab the ball. Then he exchanged a few words with a boy who was running nearby, and finally, when everyone seemed to accept him in the game, one of the boys shouted: “Hey, Rob, catch it!” And only after playing for some time did Robbie dare to propose a new rule of the game. If a boy tried to unceremoniously insert himself into someone else’s company, immediately challenge the rules and try to control the situation without understanding the relationship between the children, he would most likely not be accepted into this group. A direct question: “Can I play too?” could only help if it were addressed not to the team, but to one child.

By the way, a positive attitude and good spirits are an excellent “pill” that helps a child establish relationships with other children. In my childhood, when I went to a new school, my father told me to be friendly with everyone, smile more often and not impose my opinion too much. And it always worked!

The late 80s and early 90s were difficult times. Ideology was collapsing, an era was ending, and young people who grew up in conditions of the overthrow of past values ​​did not know what to do with themselves. Again, division into microdistricts appeared, teenage cruelty flourished, and numerous prisoners also tried, glorifying thieves' romance in every possible way.

As a result, in the early 90s, it was simply impossible to walk through a foreign area without being beaten up, and dating a girl from another part of the city was real heroism. What kind of teenage gangs were they like in the 90s?

In big cities, multi-storey Khrushchev buildings and a good birth rate in previous years provided the country with a huge number of young people who flocked together and proudly called themselves gangs. They were called differently, some were named after the name of the region (Zarechensky, Nizovsky, Zavodsky), some took the name of the leader, or as they said then “rulya” (Golubtsovsky, byki), some were called by the type of hobbies (sportsmen, metalheads, informals ).

The composition of the detachment or gang consisted of elders - youths 17-18 years old, youngsters, 15-16, and sketes, six - 14 and younger. The leader was always the most authoritative of the elders: he had to have good physical characteristics and be a good speaker and organizer.

The candidacy of joining the group was discussed at meetings; they were usually held “behind garages” or in the gazebos of kindergartens. The candidate had to undergo a baptism of fire - to walk through the territory of an enemy gang and cripple a member of the hostile group.

They usually shot from self-propelled guns that were “set on fire” in the buttocks, or they lay in wait in the evening and beat them with rebar or iron fence bars. The newcomer was observed and evaluated without the right to participate: he was a coward or he passed the test with honor, after which he was enrolled in the appropriate age group.

Each teenage gang strived to be like an adult mafia group. Some large gangs of youngsters tried to control the markets, but they were very quickly kicked out of there by real mafia gangs, explaining what was what, however, taking especially talented ones into their ranks. So, historically, gangs of teenagers "protected" dance floors and clubs.

You couldn’t come to watch a movie or go to a disco unless you were from your area and had a few strong guys standing behind you. Everyone in the city knew that the dance floor in such and such an area would be guarded, and appearing on it would mean giving rise to a bloodbath.

The severity of the massacres varied in different cities; the larger the city, the more districts and gangs, the fiercer the competition and fights. In million-plus cities in the early 90s, there were up to 15-20 different gangs, they united in alliances, feuded and organized “arrows”, in which sometimes up to 500 participants fought on each side. Weapons and ammunition for such massacres were made together.

“Gunsmiths” - teenagers who worked or studied at technical schools, were mechanics, and generally had access to machine tools and factories - were especially valued. They could steal what was missing, or simply make weapons during non-working hours. They made copper ignition tubes, filling them with bearings that pierced a two-centimeter board, filled sampopals with pieces of nails and shot, made grenades from industrial fuses, filling them with sulfur, which was scraped from matches.

As a rule, only elders had access to such weapons. At gatherings, younger members of the squad fought with bats, pieces of pipe, fittings, and wrapped bicycle chains around their hands. At that time, it was impossible to prosecute for serious injuries or even death - in the Russian police, firstly, there were enough “adult cases”, and secondly, there was simply no appropriate legislative framework by which it was possible to prosecute a teenager younger 18 years.

Teenage gangs were financed by extortions from schoolchildren and vocational school students. Every teenager in his area who was not a member of a gang had to give “lunch money” every day if he wanted to get to his place of study and back safe and sound.

Despite the fact that girls and adults were usually not touched, there were cases of brutal beatings of adult men who thought that they would deal with the “arrogant brats”, or who felt that they needed to be “indoctrinated”. In addition, teenage gangs ransacked “lumps” - tents, of which there were many in the 90s, stole from food stores and wholesale warehouses, reselling the stolen goods to real bandits.

The culture of teenage gangs was at an appropriate level

You were supposed to listen to Viktor Tsoi, Nautilus Pompilius or Status Quo. Wearing long hair, being a metalhead, an informal person, or a rapper was considered “bad” and if a member of the group was seen doing something like that, he was beaten and driven away. It was considered honorable to participate in any sports section, to study anywhere else, to attend music schools or other clubs - it was considered a fierce “stuff”. They called them “cormorants” and “chmyryas” and they mocked them especially zealously.

Surprisingly, the real mafia did not approve of such a teenage movement. To be sent to prison for being a hooligan or a drug addict was considered humiliating; in prison, a member of a teenage gang did not rise above the “six” and the hierarchy, unless, of course, he was imprisoned for something more serious.

With the improvement of the economic situation in the country, gangs began to gradually blur and lower their age limit. Disadvantaged teenagers of 17-18 years old could already find sane jobs, the employment rate of young people has risen, and where previously it was impossible to walk safely they began to walk without fear.

Some of the aggressive youth who undoubtedly remained and grew into football fans and skinheads. These movements still organize their actions and massacres, but fortunately, they are far from the mass scale and scale of the 90s.