Gewaltpraxis zwischen Kultur, Kognition und Ökonomie. Das Beispiel der Jugendbanden in El Salvador

Abstract

Theoretically, this article focuses on the causes of the social organization of violence. Whereas approaches of political economy accentuate context conditions and changing opportunities for the use of violence, cultural approaches centre on the narratives of the violent act and therefore on the description of violence. Linking both arguments through the recourse on new insights first in cognitive science and second in practice theory allows explaining forms of violence, hence, the social organization of violence through time and space. It is further argued that the reproduction of practices of  violence heavily depends on the appropriation of symbolical as well as material resources. At the same time, specific cultural schemata need to be activated. Therefore, the explanation of the social organization of violence is rooted in the interplay of both levels. Taking Salvadorian youth gangs as an example,
this article applies the elaborated theoretical approach to show firstly how youth gangs evolved with the organization of symbolical resources and on  traditional cultural schemata. Second, the dynamics of these youth gangs are illustrated and their  subsequent transformation towards local violent broker accentuated.