NCJ Number
159627
Editor(s)
F Adler,
W S Laufer
Date Published
1995
Length
436 pages
Annotation
This volume demonstrates a resurgent interest in anomie- strain theory which began in the mid-1980's and continues unabated into the 1990's; contributors focus on empirical research and discuss the anomie theory's continuing usefulness in explaining crime and delinquency.
Abstract
The volume describes the relevance of Merton's concept of goals/means disparity as a psychological mechanism in the explanation of delinquency and compares strain theory with social control theory. A macrosociological theoretical formulation is used to address the association between societal development and crime rates. In other chapters, anomie theory is employed to explain white collar crime and to look at the symbiotic relationship between Chinese gangs and adult criminal organizations within the cultural, economic, and political context of the American-Chinese community. Contributors also examine ethics and crime in business, as well as social reaction and secondary deviance in culture and society in the United States and Japan, and apply a theory of multiple control to analyze discrepancies in the control of elite and lower status deviance. References, notes, footnotes, tables, and figures