Inequality and delinquency: sorting out some class and race effects

Both neo-conservatives who tend to blame young people for their lack of moral self control and neo-liberals who decry the enduring effects of racism and poverty operate from the presupposition that “ghetto youths” engage in a variety of self-destructive behaviors, including violence and substance abuse. While debating whether these effects can be understood in “cultural” terms as the products of upbringing, or as the consequence of a lack of opportunity, nearly all researchers couch their empirical frameworks in the image of a unidimensional scale of problem behavior that affects poor youths generally and poor Black youths particularly. This line of inquiry raises some interesting ideas, but does not tell us about the process through which race or class lead to delinquency. In this paper, I critically examine previous work and present empirical models specifying structural and intermediate mechanisms implicated in delinquent behavior. I analyze a national, multilevel sample of Black and White males in the 12th grade to assess the degree to which structural, family and peer factors influence two forms of delinquency—alcohol use and fighting. The results cast doubt on culture-based assumptions, force us to reconsider the theoretical underpinnings of a large segment of research in this area, and encourage us to think differently about linkages between race, class, and delinquency or crime.