What's the point of gangs?

One might join a gang for a variety of reasons. Some might see it as a form of, "rebellion," against social standards and established authority which in turn will make them feel independent or strong, or a person may just have feelings of resentment towards some person or group who has harmed them (i.e. parents, police officers, etc.) and want to defy or even harm them. Others join a gang simply because of they were born into a poor living situation in which they are not presented with the help or opportunities to succeed such as finances for college or decent school to attend and maybe not even a supportive family or an acceptable home, so joining gang is the only way to support themselves that is does not entail an amount of effort most people cannot even begin to fathom. ( I am not claiming that this is a good justification, but I am just recognizing that It would be extremely difficult to succeed in society under these conditions). One might also join a gang to follow the influence of a sibling or parent who is also in a gang or because they were brought up in an environment involving gang life, so this life style is taught and accepted by them at an early age and is the only way they were shown to live . If living in a dangerous neighborhood one might do it for protection (i.e. one man was shot and paralyzed simply because he was not wearing the shooter's gang colors and one city has only a 10% success rate for trying and convicting murderers, not exactly sending a strong message to criminals.) Another reason is to feel some sort of belonging to something since they lack any strong bonds with others such as family or friends and the gang would seem to offer both. However there are some who join a gang because they just want easy money, retribution, or just a high level of excitement at any cost and could care less about the gang itself, just the benefits (dangerous though they may be) the gang offers. Of course if there is one gang there will always be someone who wants to be independent from that and will start another gang in which he or she has control. Some gangs are formed by people of a common belief or ethnicity and will have hostilities they have learned through influential people in their lives or generalizations (a process that comes naturally to people) they have made about a group which they will then vent by attacking this group or rival gang consisting of this group. All these causes and actions can be prevented with education, but as mentioned above, that is not always available. Territory is just the struggle for each gang to gain influence and increase the benefits (such as power and wealth) they have. It is simple psychology. Do not forget that your friend might not even be in a gang and is just trying to impress you with his "strength" or "independence" by pretending to be in one a phase that many go through but with maturity will fade.