Abstract

ORDONEZ VALVERDE, Jorge. THE CULTURAL SYSTEM OF HONOR IN GANGS. anal.polit. [online]. 2021, vol.34, n.102, pp.76-94.  Epub Jan 31, 2022. ISSN 0121-4705.  https://doi.org/10.15446/anpol.v34n102.99936.

This article presents a study on gang violence in the slums of Cali, Colombia, based on ethnographic work carried out in the first decade of the 21st century. It follows the ideas of Clifford Geertz’s symbolic anthropology, Freudian psychoanalysis as an interpretation of culture, and Norbert Elias’ theory of civilization. The central idea is that there is a cultural system of honor that gives meaning to gang violence beyond objective causes. Honor is read here as a cultural system that creates meanings and logic; the central hypothesis proposes that in marginal areas, given the little presence of the State, a decivilizing process occurs that restores pre-modern forms of social relationships such as honor codes.

Keywords : Gangs; violence; honor codes; cultural systems; decivilizing processes..

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