International records / OpenAlex research

Socioeconomic Deprivation and Peer Network Influence on Youth Thuggery and Hooliganism in Nigeria: A Sociological Analysis

Youth thuggery and hooliganism remain persistent forms of social disorder in Nigeria, especially in urban centres and politically volatile environments where poverty, unemployment, weak social control and elite manipulation converge. This paper examines how socioeconomic deprivation and peer network influence youth involvement in thuggery and hooliganism across Nigeria. The study is anchored on strain theory, which explains how blocked access to legitimate opportunities may push young people toward deviant alternatives, and on differential association theory, which accounts for the social lear…