Abstract
There is extensive scholarly work on drug problems and drug-related gangsterism on historically disadvantaged racial or ethnic groups globally. Researchers have also examined drug problems and gangsterism among disadvantaged communities in South Africa, but not much scholarship exists that develop analytical concepts to frame drug problems and gangsterism as a structural rather than cultural phenomena. Drawing on data from interviews with Coloured residents of Westbury, Johannesburg, South Africa, and secondary sources, this paper contributes to this body of work by proposing an analytical concept which I term "de-culturing drug abuse and gangsterism." Purposive and snowball sampling were used to select participants. Fourteen participated. Research participants reported that unemployment, poverty and material deprivation compelled many individuals in Westbury to resort to drug abuse, drug dealing and gangsterism. Participants also reported police corruption and a lack of police visibility as a major problem in Westbury. Drawing on the findings, I argue that the drug and gangsterism problems in Westbury should be seen as outcomes of broader structural forces such as unemployment, poverty, government neglect and colonial and Apartheid legacies of racial exclusions, rather than as immutable cultural attributes. This article rejects essentialist cultural explanations of drug abuse and gangsterism by locating them within various larger structural forces.