Symbolic Interactionist Theory of Role-Transitions, Role- Commitments, and Delinquency (From Developmental Theories of Crime and Delinquency, P 163-213, 1997, Terence P Thornberry, ed. -- See NCJ-167734)

• NCJ Number: 167739
• Author(s): R L Matsueda; K Heimer
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 51 pages
• Grant Number(s): SBR-9311014
• Sponsoring Agency: National Science Foundation
• Sale Source: Transaction Publishers
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Advances in Criminological Theory, Volume Seven

Annotation

The authors apply symbolic interaction theory to the life course theory of crime and indicate this view provides a theory of the meaning of life course transitions and a situational theory of mechanisms by which such transitions translate into criminal acts.

Abstract

Symbolic interactionist theory also provides a slant on the ontogenetic-sociogenic debate and specifies duration-dependent hypotheses about crime. The importance of a life course perspective in crime and delinquency is reviewed, with emphasis on important issues, theoretical questions, and tentative empirical findings. A symbolic interactionist approach to crime in the life course is sketched, and symbolic interactionist theory is applied to early child development, adolescence, and adulthood. Four features of the symbolic interactionism perspective are noted: (1) it assumes a biosocial view of human behavior such that behavior occurs at the intersection between biological and environmental processes; (2) it specifies ways in which ontogenetic mechanisms are constituted in interactions with others; (3) it emphasizes the importance of criminal and deviant counterparts to conventional culture and organization, including criminal capital; and (4) it implies several duration-dependent mechanisms linking social roles and criminal behavior through major life course transitions from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. 149 references and 5 notes