The Boston Irish: The Development of Organized Crime as Resistance to Oppression

This paper examines the phenomenon of Irish involvement in organized crime in Boston in the 1800s through utilizing but expanding on and reemploying existing research. I examined existing journal articles and then coded them into four major themes: oppression/domination, ethnicity/ethnic identity, deviance/social control, and organized crime. The purpose was to determine what, if any, social factors were present in Boston that allowed the organized criminal networks to form. Various sociological and criminological theories were employed to help explain the evidence. I argue that the pre-existing hatred and stigmatization of the Irish by the Anglo-Saxon Bostonian population fueled oppression and, as a reaction to their domination, the Irish turned to the underground economy and illicit activities to reach their goals for upward social mobility.

Author

• Thornton, Rebecca C.

Language

• en

Keyword

• Oppression
• Organized Crime
• Irish Immigration
• Boston

Date created

• 2012

Type of Work

• Master's Thesis

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Sociology

Degree

• M.A.

Advisor

• Buntman, Fran

Committee Member(s)

• Chambliss, William

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/x346d439g