Anti-social bandits : juvenile delinquency and the Tsotsi youth gang subculture on the Witwatersrand 1935-1960

Date
1990
Authors
Glaser, Clive
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Abstract
In r.he context of family instability, inadequate schooling, massive youth unemployment and severe residential overcrowding, juvenile delinquency became rampant in Witwatersrand townships during the 1930s. By the mid 1940s the I'tsotsis", a criminal, male-dominated youth gang subculture with its own distinctively urban style, ritual and language, had entrenched itself amongst urbanised township communities Tsotsis angrily rejected both hegemonic whlte middle class values and the apparently acquiescent culture of their parents. Tsotsi style, which drew heavily on American cinema imagery, expressed a denial of cultural consensus in urban society. Tsotsi gangs preyed materially off township residents and distanced themselves from political activity or community affairs. However, around 1959-60 tsotsis were attracted to the radical, machismo, aggressively anti-establishment politics of the Pan-Africanist Congress. The subculture dissolved during the 1960s as a result of police crackdowns, expanded state schooling and improved employment opportunities for urban youth.
Description
Thesis (M.A.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Arts, 1990
Keywords
Juvenile delinquency--South Africa--Witwatersrand, Gangs--South Africa--Wiwatersrand
Citation
Glaser, Clive (1990) Anti-social bandits : juvenile delinquency and the Tsotsi youth gang subculture on the Witwatersrand 1935-1960, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, <http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/21633>
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