Boredom and the buzz: 'its all about killing time'

This article shares findings from a five year constructivist grounded theory (CGT) of gangs in Glasgow, a city situated in the west of Scotland which is historically notorious for gang culture and violence (Davies;2007; Bartie 2010). A key element of this research was the creation of a definition of a Glasgow gang.

Although this is not the focus of this paper the gangs being discussed were defined as: A regenerating, self-aware group of young people (majority male) aged 10-30 that emerge from play groups, are socialised via the streets and engage in territorial violence. The groups originate in low income, urbanised areas. They have attachment to territory; the area will historically be involved in territorial violence and have a name and area associated with it. (Miller 2016)