Gendering Gangs: Critical Perspectives on Youth, Masculinities, Violence, and the Gang Ethos in Sweden

Gendering Gangs: 

Critical Perspectives on Youth, Masculinities, Violence, and the Gang Ethos in Sweden 

Research seminar, Department of Sociology, Lund University 17 September 2025 

Contrary to international research on gangs there is remarkably little focus on gendered aspects of contemporary Swedish gangs. This is an opportunity missed. Masculine ideals and homosociality are clearly central to gangs’ self-representation and practices, very much in the same way as in male-dominated far-right milieus. 

In most gangsta rap, it takes mere seconds for ideas about “how to be a man” to surface, including explicit notions of women’s roles and purposes. The same applies to social media posts or casual conversations among gang members. However, despite Sweden’s long-established approach to issues of gender and sexuality in both society and academia, there is a lack of research examining gendered underpinnings of the gang ethos that can help us better to understand the reality of Swedish gang crime.  

The aim of this one-day research seminar is to facilitate a dialogue between researchers of both criminal subcultures and gender. Hosted by scholars from the Divisions of Gender, Social Anthropology and Sociology at Lund University, it is part of an effort to stimulate further research into gendered structures and cultural expressions of criminal gangs in Sweden. 

Keynote Speakers: 

Anne Phoenix (UCL, UK) och Jonathan Ilan (UCD, IE)

Panelists: 

Atreyee Sen (KU), Lucas Gottzen (SU), Anna Hedlund (GU), Sofia Ulver (LU)