“Jag offrar mig själv för att kunna försvara mitt område eller mina grabbar” : en studie om den socioekonomiska eftersattheten och dess koppling till gatuvåldet bland unga män i Sverige

Sammanfattning: This study focuses on examining whether there is a link between crime/street violence and socioeconomically disadvantaged/neglected areas. The study was executed on the basis of professionals' perspective on the issue. The study analyzes young men but the result is based on empirical data from interviews with the professionals who are or have been in touch with young men whose lifestyle is characterized by criminality. The interviewees are professionals in different fields such as social services, leisure activities, politics, defector activities etcetera. Therefore, the study is similar to a casestudy. Our study is conducted with the help of semi-structured interviews since we have chosen a qualitative research method with an abductive approach. The results show that the connection between the issues surrounding street violence and the socioeconomically neglected areas is strong. The stigma around the area and the lack of meaningful leisure leads to risk factors for the young men, in terms of education with fewer resources, overcrowding in their homes, poverty and exclusion in society. These factors in turn lead individually or collectively to the young men being attracted to a lifestyle that is characterized by crime, violence, drug trafficking and so on. Labeling theory was a highly current theory which most of the interviewees pointed out. Bothstigma and labeling of people who live in the neglected areas can cause street violence. This in turn causes fragile social ties in society. Developmental psychopathology is another theory that helped us answer the results in this study. The collected data shows how development differs from one individual to the other, how one person who in general lives under the same circumstances manages to stay away from criminality while another individual doesn't. The conclusion that was drawn from this study, among others, is that a root cause of street violenceis the neglecting of these areas. There is a necessity for more resources and dedicated workers in school, workers in extracurricular functions and other adults that work in close connection to the young men.