NCJ Number
137537
Date Published
1991
Length
285 pages
Annotation
This analysis of high-risk car and motorcycle racing among Japanese youth is based on interviews and responses to questionnaires. It argues that this activity exemplifies the attraction theory of deviance and that this activity satisfies the cravings of the gang members for excitement and new experience while imposing meaning and order on their lives.
Abstract
The teenage "bosozuku" drivers, the "violent driving tribe," emerged during the mid-1970's and early 1980's. They display elegant and bizarre costumes: kamikaze party uniforms combined with American punk, surfer, and rock-and-roll gear. These costumes imitate what the Japanese youth think that American youth wear. When the drivers are out of their customized cars and off their bikes, they define themselves as "Yankee," a social type similar to street-corner youths whose lifestyle revolves around the pursuit of thrills and action. Although the Japanese mass media have portrayed these youths as juvenile delinquents, they are not major criminal offenders. The majority are from middle-class families, and the gangs are rarely involved in illicit underworld activities. Their activities, as well as conflicts between gangs, are a form of play and usually do not involve weapons, although this situation may change in the future. Tables, photographs, appended methodological information, notes, index, and 268 references