Life within a gang includes two endemic features: violence and alcohol
Yet, to date, most researchers studying gang behavior have focused on violence
and its relationship to illicit drugs, largely neglecting the importance of
alcohol in gang life. Because alcohol is an integral and regular part of
socializing within gang life, drinking works as a social lubricant, or social
glue, to maintain not only the cohesion and social solidarity of the gang, but
also to affirm masculinity and male togetherness. In addition to its role as a
cohesive mechanism, particular drinking styles within gangs may operate, as with
other social groups, as a mechanism to maintain group boundaries, thereby
demarcating one gang from another.