TY - JOUR
T1 - Delinquent Subcultures
T2 - Sociological Interpretations of Gang Delinquency
AU - Bordua, David J.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2016 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 1961/11
Y1 - 1961/11
N2 - Group delinquency has been of theoretical in terest to American sociology for more than half a century. During that time, four major interpretations of the origins of gang delinquency and delinquent subcultures have emerged. The classical view developed by Thrasher focuses on the de velopment of spontaneous groups under conditions of weak social control and social disorganization. Two other views, somewhat akin, emphasize the adjustment problems of lower class boys and stress respectively the status deprivation of such boys when they fail to place well according to the middle class measuring rod and the alienation produced when opportunities to achieve universally demanded success goals are denied lower class boys. Another view is that of the lower class street gang and its way of life as the adolescent version of a more general adult life style, namely, lower class culture. There is a no ticeable tendency in the recent theories to emphasize irrational explanations of gang delinquency, to view the boys who par ticipate as driven rather than attracted, and polemical pres sures have tended to produce extreme theoretical interpreta tions.
AB - Group delinquency has been of theoretical in terest to American sociology for more than half a century. During that time, four major interpretations of the origins of gang delinquency and delinquent subcultures have emerged. The classical view developed by Thrasher focuses on the de velopment of spontaneous groups under conditions of weak social control and social disorganization. Two other views, somewhat akin, emphasize the adjustment problems of lower class boys and stress respectively the status deprivation of such boys when they fail to place well according to the middle class measuring rod and the alienation produced when opportunities to achieve universally demanded success goals are denied lower class boys. Another view is that of the lower class street gang and its way of life as the adolescent version of a more general adult life style, namely, lower class culture. There is a no ticeable tendency in the recent theories to emphasize irrational explanations of gang delinquency, to view the boys who par ticipate as driven rather than attracted, and polemical pres sures have tended to produce extreme theoretical interpreta tions.
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U2 - 10.1177/000271626133800113
DO - 10.1177/000271626133800113
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0344355331
SN - 0002-7162
VL - 338
SP - 119
EP - 136
JO - The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
JF - The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
IS - 1
ER -