NCJ Number
124205
Date Published
1989
Length
18 pages
Annotation
According to the power-control theory, family class structure derives its power configurations from the occupational positions held by the spouses outside and inside the home.
Abstract
Family class structure shapes the social reproduction of gender relations and the social distribution of delinquency. That more men than women are criminals could lead criminologists to conclude that men are more primitive than women; yet a leading criminologist once insisted that the female is "atavistically nearer to her origin than the male" and her lesser criminality could be explained by "piety, maternity, want of passion, sexual coldness, weakness, and an undeveloped intelligence." Criminality is an expression of masculinity for which men are trained, elevated, venerated, and paid, yet also punished. Parents socially reproduce their own family power relationships through the control of their children. The day-to-day nature of mother-daughter relationships generally keeps women from becoming delinquent. However, recent advances by women in the work force has resulted in their gaining power relative to their husbands, and consequently, daughters gaining freedom relative to sons.