SOPHISTICATION,ORGANIZATION, AND AUTHORITY-SUB JECT CONFLICT: REDISCOVERING AND UNRAVELING TURK'S THEORY OF NORM RESISTANCE*

While it has been more than a quarter of a century since Austin Turk proposed his non-partisan conflict theory in Criminality and Legal Order, little effort has been made to assess this work empirically. This study applies Turk's theory to police-citizen encounters at domestic disputes in a southern city. Five hypotheses are advanced and analyzed. The findings indicate that after controlling for race, sex, and area of the city, overt conflict between the police and citizens is related to the organization and sophistication of the participants involved.