Citation

Crook EB. Am. J. Sociol. 1934; 39(4): 493-500.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1934, University of Chicago Press)

DOI

10.1086/216492

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Sociologist conceive of the person as in part created by his social worl. An attempt is made to explore this concept by discovering the relations of marginal location (in space and culture) and mobility (physical and social) of the person to accompanying factors such as changes in personal relations and in his estimate of himself. Juvenile court records furnish data basic to a purely preliminary ecological study. The addresses of 700 "sexually delinquent" girls, those of their male partners, and their places of sex relations, when spotted on maps form six different triangular configurations. The first three of these, comprising 200 cases, are here presented from the standpoint of their position in relation to boundaries of community areas, and to boundaries of language areas. About half of the total fall on community frontiers, but over 86 per cent on boundaries of language areas. Tentative hypotheses emerge, but intensive interpretation must await examination of cultural and personal aspects not treated in the preliminary study.