Reframing urban street culture: Towards a dynamic and heuristic process model

Abstract

The fields of criminology/criminal justice have periodically used the term and concept of urban street culture to explain selected types of street crime and gang behavior. This article argues that this characterization of street culture is too narrow, and that the concept has wider applicability to urban processes, including urban studies, urban anthropology, and urban geography. In so doing, this article briefly reviews the concept of street culture, including relevant research on this topic, argues that a dynamic process model is necessary, and then proposes one that is heuristic and dynamic in nature. The model consists of five major components that explain street culture, including street capital, competing cultural influences, mass media/cultural industries, social media, and street crime. These elements account for the complexity of street culture, and are assembled in a manner that allows for future hypothesis testing and theory building.