The Social Analysis

Both child soldiering and youth involvement in gangs are not new or recent occurrences by any means. However, the main causes that compel children into involvement with militant or rebel groups or gangs have remained fairly constant. One of those causes is of course, social circumstance. Child soldiers are often enlisted by rebels or other militant groups in time of change and upheaval. Often, their villages have been attacked or in danger of attack. The type of children who join and become soldiers are often on the bottom of the social ladder to begin with. Therefore, children joining have several motives. First and foremost, some are forced into these groups, choosing to joing rather than be killed. Secondly though, other children join in hopes of bettering their position both in society and economically. William P. Murphy, a teacher in the Department of Anthropology at Northwestern, also studies how some children who have lost their families through conflict, join these militant groups because they desire a place and a sense of belonging. His studies can be further explored in his article Military Patrimonialism and Child Soldier Clientalism in the Liberian and Sierra Leonean Civil Wars. Youth who join gangs also experience similar social pressures. They often live in inner-city areas with an unfavorable domestic environment and live off of a low income. Their instability is drawn from all three of these conditions. In the inner-city area, there is often much instability because gangs often play an active role in those areas. Domestically, many youths who join gangs live in a household where only one parent is present. That parent may be incompetent, abusive, or emotionally negligent. This causes youths to yearn for some type of relationship or system of "caring". The brotherhood ideal gangs offer appears very enticing to especially boys of these circumstances. An image of this can be viewed here:

Overall, these social forces and an emotionally or physically inadequate domestic life can act as a catalyst for children to join both American gangs and militant groups.

The Pupose

The causes that lead children to become child soldiers tend to share a common nature with those many causes which pressure children into joining American gangs. These factors can be broken down into environmental, social, economic, political, and educational aspects of these children's daily lives.

After reading several books on both children in gangs in America and child soldiers in various parts of the world, I have noticed several similarities in the backgrounds and circumstances which foster participation in these groups. Although I do not attempt to claim or prove that the conditions they live in are exactly the same, I hope to analyze features of the children's environments that possibly hold key similarities. In my research I will examine the following aspects of these children's daily lives:
social
economic
political
educational
Through careful and critical analyzation I hope to prove that the United States is not isolated from the world's vices. Many of America's children are still in danger of becoming lost to violence. Hopefully continual raising of points and statistics such as this will alert Americans to the problems at home that need attention.