YOUTH CRIME IN POSTINDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES An Integrated Perspective

Taking a few well-known facts about youth crime, the authors propose a more comprehensive theoretical framework, synthesizing other theories and attempting to describe the link between macro- and microdeviance analysis. Employing Durkheim's concepts of social integration, it is proposed that integration be viewed through patterns of role relationships. When adolescents have meaningful kin, community, educational, and work role relationships, they become socialized to the dominant norms. Conditions in the structural level of society affect the nature and quality of these relationships. Youth crime is specifically related to the salience of the peer relationships and the structural conditions imposed by the society on youth.     

Working-class authoritarianism: a re-examination of the Lipset thesis

Abstract. Almost thirty years ago Lipset published his well-known article 'Democracy and working-class authoritarianism'. His central thesis is that the working class more than other social classes, is predisposed to authoritarian and anti-democratic attitudes. Several authors have criticized this thesis, especially by questioning Lipset's concept of democracy. Our approach is somewhat different in that in our opinion Lipset's conceptualization and measurement of social class is inaccurate and inappropriate. Using an empirical class model elaborated by Eric Olin Wright, our findings do not show that the working class is more authoritarian than other social classes. Education and not social class seems to be the most important factor. It is concluded that the measurement of social class is crucial to whether the theory of working-class authoritarianism is empirically supported or not. Some theoretical consequences are briefly discussed.     

OFFICER-MEMBER RELATIONS IN COUNTY-LEVEL POLICY-MAKING FOR RURAL AREAS: THE CASE OF THE GLQUCESTERSHIRE STRUCTURE PLAN

Studies of rural planning have only recently begun to focus on concepts of policy-making and implementation which have been developed in urban and regional contexts. Although recognizing the need for inter-organizational frameworks, this paper investigates one particular factor in policy-making – officer-member relations – as illustrated in the structure plan-making process of Gloucestershire County Council. Through a partnership between senior officers who were able to orchestrate decision-making, and elite members who provided political support for technical policy justifications, a form of directed policy consensus was reached. The consensus in this particular structure plan was marked by the prominence of a political-bureaucratic goal to provide policy-responses to rural problems. This theme was diluted, however, when the plan moved from the local to the central arena of power.     

The Effect of Curfew Laws on Motor Vehicle Crashes

Twelve states in the U.S. have curfew laws, which prohibit young drivers from operating motor vehicles during late evening or early morning hours. The effect of such laws on motor vehicle crashes was studied in four of these states. In each state the laws were found substantially to reduce the crashes of sixteen year olds. Sixteen year old driver crash involvements during curfew hours were reduced by an estimated 69 percent in Pennsylvania, 62 percent in New York, 40 percent in Maryland, and 25 percent in Louisiana. Except in Maryland, the percentage of the sixteen year old population licensed was lower in curfew than comparison states. It is possible that curfew laws reduce early licensure, in which case reductions in crash involvements resulting from curfews are greater than shown above.