The Little Village Gang Violence Reduction Project in Chicago

aspired to clerical, trade, and factory positions. The changes were consistent, but not statisticallysignificant, within and between groups. On the other hand, rather low realistic expectations forfuture jobs (such as clerk, trade, or factory worker) were typically reported at Time I, butsubstantially increased (to managerial and clerical-level jobs) at Time III. The increasedoccupational expectations, in relation to the lowered occupational aspirations, was statisticallysignificant for the total sample (t = - 2.35, p # 0.05).In other words, by Time III members of both gangs had lowered their occupationalaspirations, but raised their occupational expectations. The decrease in disjunction for the totalsample was statistically significant (t = - 2.01, p # 0.05). The decrease was statisticallysignificant for the Latin Kings, who were older (Sign Test, p = 0.016), but not for the Two Six.Perhaps by Time III gang members had become generally more realistic about their futurecareers (Merton 1957).Income Aspirations/Expectations. The results were different using the income variable.At Time I, members of both gangs aspired to future income levels between $30,000 and $40,000per year; these aspirations rose to between $40,000 and $50,000 at Time III. The increases weresimilar and statistically significant for members of each of the two gangs (Latin Kings: t = - 2.96,p # 0.01; Two Six: t = 5.94, p # 0.01), and for both gangs together (t = - 6.14, p # 0.01).However, income expectations declined only slightly, from the high-$30,000 range at Time I tothe low-$30,000 or upper-$20,000 range at Time III. There were minor differences in thesepatterns between the two gangs. The gap between aspirations and expectations declined for theLatin Kings, but increased slightly for the Two Six. Using income as a criterion, the disjunctionor degree of alienation was possibly greater for the Two Six than for the Latin Kings (both at8.25