Dr. Joan W. Moore|
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Joan W. Moore is a distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. She received both her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Her field of study has primarily been sociology with a focus in Social Problems within Latino communities. Dr. Moore has made a major contribution to the social sciences in the area of crime, drugs and gangs; she was also John Hagedorn’s mentor. No scholar is as widely cited as is Dr. Joan Moore in this field. Her most notable books are Homeboy: Gangs, Drugs and Prison in the Barrios of Los Angeles (1979). She won the Sidney Spivack Award in 1980 for this groundbreaking study examining gang activities in East Los Angeles and Going Down to the Barrio (1991) are widely respected for their insights into Mexican American gangs. Her recent study "Drug Posses, Gangs and the Underclass in Milwaukee" focuses on the African American community. For the basis of my research I decided to read one of her most notable books Going Down to the Barrio: Homeboys and Homegirls in Change, curiosity led me to her earlier work and I found a book review of Mexican Americans: The Nation’s Largest Minority, and lastly I ventured a little further out of the scope of gangs and read Mexican Americans: Problems and Prospects. I wondered if anywhere in her earlier research there was notation of violence or general criminality, and see if there were any consistent indicators or concerns within Chicano communities before this mass concern over gangs occurred. Going Down to the Barrio: Homeboys and Homegirls in Change (1991) is continuing research begun by Moore and Carlos Garcia. It traces forty-five years of two Chicano youth gangs established in East Los Angeles: White Fence Gang and El Hoyo Maravilla. Through entrenched interviews they are able to capture historical elements and statistical data for comparison of changes within gangs, the economic variations within
References: Briggs, V. M. (1972). The Mexican-American People: The Nation’s Second Largest Minority (Book Review). Industrial & Labor Relations Review, (8) 3, p280-281. Moore, J. W. (1966). The Mexican-American People: Problems and Prospects. Mexican American Study Project. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Moore, J.W. (1991). Going Down to the Barrio: Homeboys and Homegirls in Change. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Moore, J. W. (1970). The Mexican-American People: The Nation’s Second Largest Minority. New York, NY: New York Press. Russell Sage Foundation. (2011). Generations of Exclusion. Mexican Americans, Assimilation, and Race. Retrieved from: https://www.russellsage.org/publications/generations-exclusion-0 Temple University Press. (2011). Sociology Award Winning Books. Retrieved from: http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/161_reg.html