”Följer han inte reglerna så klipper du honom!” Unga mäns tankar kring våldsproblematiken i Malmö

Sammanfattning: The aim of this essay is to examine young men's stories and thoughts about the violence and the street shootings that have been committed in Malmö in recent years. The stories and thoughts are thus aimed to identify some forcings behind the violence in the city. By listening to the young men's stories, the purpose is to portray norms and factors that contribute to criminal activities among young men. The method of the essay is mostly based on qualitative focus group interviews analyzed in the essay using Robert Merton's theory of Strain, but is also discussed in relation to social norms. The result showed that most of the violence between young men in the city of Malmö, takes place internally within different groups or between former friends. These conflicts usually arise in connection with illegal drug dealing. The shootings and violence in the city are many times a result of norms that are not obeyed in, for example, drug activities. There were also norms about how friends, or as participants in the interviews described it, “brothers”, should treat each other. Finally, poverty emerged as a factor that contributes to the need for the young men to provide financial support. When society's established goals can not be achieved with established resources because of poverty, the lack of education or employment, the young men use alternative methods to reach them.