Urban Youth's Perspectives on Flash Mobs

Abstract

Flash mobs are new, emerging, and evolving social phenomena that have recently been associated with youth violence in the US cities. The current study explores how youth understand flash mobs through focus groups conducted in Kansas City, Missouri (a site of violent youth flash mobs). Results indicate that youth have varying familiarity with flash mobs and define them in different ways; that youth perceive youth boredom to be the most frequent cause of problems with flash mobs; that youth connect ongoing social disorder with the violence associated with flash mobs; and that while social media are facilitators of flash mobs, flash mobs have their roots in youth activities that have been going on for generations (e.g., hanging out in groups and cruising). Results illustrate the importance of conducting formative research with youth, particularly about emergent phenomena, when developing interventions and communication campaigns aimed at reducing youth violence.

Keywords:

• Flash mobs
• Youth
• Violence
• Social media
• Social disorder

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, and the Kansas City Area Education Research Consortium (KC-AERC). We appreciate the youth, schools, and youth-serving agencies in Kansas City who participated in and hosted the focus groups and facilitated survey data collection.