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The tongs are a classic example of a secret society because
they had secret initiation rituals, passwords, codes, symbols, and their
own set of rules and punishments that every member must oblige by. These
practices will be explained later on in fuller detail to the complexity
of the tong. According to Thrasher’s definition of a secret society,
the tongs are a great example of the definition because they are heavily
integrated in the Chinese culture and society.
Now, the question is what was the process of the creation of the tongs?
How did this group form and become such a powerful group in the American
underground? If you look at the classic works of gang research, you
will come across the works of the Chicago School of Criminology based
at the University of Chicago. The sociologists and criminologists that
make up this school were concerned about the formation of gangs particularly
in Chicago. They wanted to show how gangs were formed in America’s
urban centers like Chicago. Their final findings were brought together
and formed the theory we know now as social disorganization. They argued
that it was “space” rather then “race” that
attributed to the growth of the gangs. They look at the organization
of a city and found that there are social patterns within the city’s
design that correspond to the crime within a certain part of the city
and not other parts. Before the Chicago School was around, people believed
in the notion that certain races are predisposed to crime because it
is not where they live instead it is what they are. Ethnicity was a
major factor in determining what groups are more likely to commit crimes.
However, the Chicago School argues that it the places that these groups
live cause the deviant behavior found within the groups of people living
there. Thrasher explains the relationship of the gang to the expansion
process found within a city to the creation of gangs by writing:
Gangland represents a geographically and socially interstitial area
in the city. Probably the most significant concept of the study is
the term interstitial- that is, pertaining to spaces that intervene
between one thing and another. In nature, foreign matter tends to
collect and cake in every crack, crevice, and cranny- interstices.
There are also fissures and breaks in the structure of the social
organization. The gang may be regarded as an interstitial element
in the framework of society, and gangland as an interstitial region
in the layout of the city. The gang is almost invariably characteristic
of regions that are interstitial to the more settled, more stable,
and better-organized portions of the city. The central tripartite
empire of the gang occupies what is often called “the poverty
belt”- a region characterized by deteriorating neighborhoods,
shifting populations, and the mobility and disorganization of the
slum. Abandoned by those seeking homes in better residential districts,
encroached upon by business and industry, this zone is a distinctly
interstitial phase of the city’s growth. It is to a large extent
isolated from the wider culture of the larger community by the process
of competition and conflict which have resulted in the selection of
its population (Thrasher: The Gang: A Study of 1,313 Gangs in Chicago,
20).
This can explain the creation of many gangs in Chicago. Most the gangs
found in Chicago were from poor neighborhoods. They were a product of
their environment. However, this cannot explain the creation and success
of the tongs because according to ethnic succession once a group leaves
a poor neighborhood, the gang members will become old and then leave
the life of the gang for a better life. This was not the case of the
tongs. The tongs existed in this country for about hundred years. The
tongs did not go away when their members became old. Instead, this group
existed even long after the original members passed away.
How did the tongs last for a long time in power unlike other criminal
groups that failed with time? This cannot be explained by using the
social disorganization theory as proposed by the Chicago School. Then,
what can it possibly be? Is it something within the social structure
of the Chinese-American society that allows these groups to survive?
The tongs in America particularly in Chicago survived over a hundred
years because it institutionalized themselves within the community.
The tongs became a vibrant force in the Chinese community from its beginnings
as an organization formed together for protection against white settlers
on the West Coast. This group helped the Chinese in this country to
survive the racist attacks that would endure from day to day. However,
this only lasted for a short while because in the long run, the tongs
would prey against its own people: the Chinese living in the numerous
Chinatowns that were popping up everywhere. The tongs were a major player
in the Chinese community because they provided services to citizens
living there. This dynamic of institutionalization of the tong in the
Chinatowns will become more clearer when this paper goes into further
detail of the inner workings of Chinese-American history and the structure
of the Chinatown.
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