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Abstract
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VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this paper by Erlanger was to examine the empirical status of the subculture of violence hypothesis.
METHODOLOGY:
The author conducted a secondary analysis of quasi-experimental cross-sectional data that were collected for the national survey of the President's Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence in 1968. In order to measure the possible existence of a subculture of violence, the original questionnaire included questions about respondents' approval of the use of physical aggression in various interpersonal interactions. The current study involved a detailed analysis of new data, obtained from a 1969 survey of black and white males aged 21 to 64 years in Milwaukee, to present data on peer esteem and social psychological correlates of fighting. The survey contained one item to measure physical aggression and two items for perceived esteem accorded by others. An index was constructed to measure levels of happiness amongst the respondents. Separate analyses were performed for lower class respondents (income less than $5,000) and non-poor respondents (income over $5,000), and for blacks and whites, and included cross tabulations and correlations. Analysis could not be conducted for low-income whites due to small sample size in that cell.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
The author began with a description of the subculture of violence hypothesis. The hypothesis states that violence is a result of belief in a set of values that support and encourage the expression of violent behavior. These values are in conflict with, but not totally in opposition to, those of the dominant culture, and are purported to exist primarily among low-status adults. Whilst few studies have directly addressed the empirical testing of this hypothesis, the few that have indirectly examined this area have produced conflicting results as to the validity and usefulness of the subculture of violence hypothesis. Initial results of the analysis of the Commission data found that no major differences existed between various classes and races, and there was a general low rate of approval for physical violence. Turning to the Milwaukee data, the author found that results were consistent with the subculture of violence thesis: blacks and the poor were more likely to participate in fighting. However, this finding was thought to also be consistent with a number of other non-subcultural theories. Turning to perceived esteem to confirm these findings, the author found that correlations were either close to zero or were in the opposite direction to that predicted by the subculture thesis. Whilst a strong positive relationship was expected between fighting and esteem for low-income black men, a strong negative relationship was expected between fighting and esteem for the white middle class respondents. The author concluded that, whilst the findings did not refute the subculture of violence hypothesis, they did cast doubt upon it. Turning to an examination of levels of happiness, in the belief that happiness would be positively correlated with violence within the subculture and negatively correlated outside such a subculture. However, fighting was negatively correlated with happiness for blacks and whites, poor and non-poor. Except for the non-poor whites, these findings were in direct contradiction to the predictions of the subculture of violence hypothesis. The author concluded that the balance of existing evidence is inconsistent with the hypothesis, and that poor and minority communities are not characteristically different from dominant society in rates of approval of aggression: it is not a group pathology that leads to social and economic deprivation, but rather the result of social structural factors and conditions.
AUTHOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS:
The author suggested that future research is much needed in this area. Research should include adequate representation of minorities and of poor whites, and should incorporate both street men and more traditional householders. It should also center more upon the exact content of supposed subcultural differences, and upon the origins, permanence and relationship to social structure of such subcultural violence.
EVALUATION:
The author presents an interesting examination of the empirical status of the subculture of violence hypothesis. However, the discussion of previous research and of the President's Commission were both brief and cursory, and could have been much more detailed. The study conducted in Milwaukee was hardly discussed at all, as methodological considerations such as sample selection and measurement of variables were virtually overlooked. The use of one or two items to measure key variables suggests that the results be interpreted with some caution. The presentation of the findings of this study could have also been more thorough, as could have implications of the findings for research and policy planning. This study can represent only a brief and inconclusive addition to the study of the empirical status of this subcultural thesis. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - Subculture of Violence
KW - Subculture Theory
KW - Wisconsin
KW - Adult Aggression
KW - Adult Male
KW - Adult Offender
KW - Adult Violence
KW - Male Aggression
KW - Male Offender
KW - Male Violence
KW - Physical Aggression
KW - Aggression Causes
KW - Violence Causes
KW - Socioeconomic Factors
KW - Adult Self-Esteem
KW - Male Self-Esteem
KW - Offender Self-Esteem |