Out-law Motorcycle Gangs: Who Fits the Profile and how they Join

Essay by ross0927University, Bachelor'sA-, March 2007

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Outlaw motorcycle gangs have been a very heated issue for the past few years in Canadian news. Many large and intimidating motorcycle gangs have recently expanded their territory into Canada. In this expansion, many of Canada's original biker gangs have been taken over by larger and, predominantly, more dangerous gangs (Sher 2004). Knowing that biker culture and outlaw biker gangs are dangerous and often life risking, it can be hard to understand why someone would ever want to devote their life to being an outlaw-motorcycle gang member. This paper will go into detail about the types of people who are most susceptible to joining biker gangs, and the process which each prospect must go through in order to become a full, patch wearing member.

The outlaw-biker image appeals too many people, but the majorities of people who end up devoting their lives to this rebellious lifestyle come from the lower tiers of society's hierarchy.

Police profiles of outlaw clubs confirm that most members of outlaw motorcycle gangs, also known as OMG's, tend to come from the lower working class (Sher 2004). When analyzed, it makes perfect sense why a lower working class citizen would want to turn to the exciting and dangerous life of an outlaw-biker. Lower working class jobs are generally manual labour positions, in either factories or construction sites. Quite often, these jobs are repetitive, boring and lack any mental stimulation. These jobs provide hardly any stimulation at all during a time where most young men are trying to find themselves and figure out who they are. The only available identity to a manual laborer is that of an impersonal machine and when machine familiarity mixes with a lack of stimulation at work, these men look to develop a sense of self outside the workplace. Motorcycling,