NCJ Number
180194
Editor(s)
Meredith W. Watts
Date Published
1998
Length
29 pages
Annotation
The authors contend extremist and xenophobic aggression among young people, especially males, cannot be understood by simply transferring adult-oriented theories of authoritarianism, status insecurity, political ideology, or existential threat but must additionally take into account the nature of adolescent aggression.
Abstract
The approach to the study of male violence-proneness has three main elements. The first is a historical perspective on the ambivalent relationship between adolescent male aggressiveness and the modern state. The second relies on a modified theory of capital that argues a small but critical portion of the adolescent and young adult male population is particularly susceptible to developing and using physical capital as a personal resource. The third is based on an analysis of data from a nationwide sample of young people in the Federal Republic of Germany who answered a number of questions concerning aggression, personal attitudes and motivations, and political orientations. Data from the German study showed that the aggressive sub-cultural type youth emphasized order and traditional authoritarian values, the aggressive behavioral type used physical force as a means of gaining control over the immediate environment, and the politically violent type used force against persons and property in the broader context of street politics. Each type of violence acceptance was associated with different social-political values and orientations. 51 references