The utility of social network analysis to examine conflict and collaboration across boundaries: A review and research agenda for Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs

Outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) may be approached along a continuum between gangs and organized crime involving criminal activities such as illicit drug production and distribution, firearms trafficking, and serious violent crime. Approaches to the study of OMCGs, as with the study of gangs more broadly, tend to focus on offending at the individual level, with limited focus on the nature and extent of social network structure and dynamics. In this paper, we focus on the utility of social network analysis (SNA) for analyzing and understanding conflict and collaboration within and between OMCG clubs. We review the existing literature applying SNA to examine collaboration or conflict in the context of OMCGs. Our aim is to identify the many characteristics of actors and groups influencing collaboration and conflict, which we examine as potential boundaries. This review identified five sets of characteristics – membership, rank, core-periphery, ethnicity, and geospatial – that we supplement with additional characteristics by reflecting on the broader criminal network literature, most notably in the scholarship on gangs. We conclude with a research agenda for the study of conflict and collaboration across boundaries that can be applied to the study of OMCGs, gangs, and organized criminal groups.