An Empirical Test of the Subculture of Violence Thesis

This paper proposes criteria for the empirical determination of when attitudinal differences between groups may be said to be "subcultural." These criteria are then applied in a test of Wolfgang and Ferracuti's thesis that a "subculture of violence" exists among blacks and lower-class whites. The data used include survey data on self-reported aggression and attitudes on the use of violence in peer situations, as well as data from field studies of slum communities. Given the state of available materials, much more can be said about low status groups than about the causes of violence. It is possible that frequently violent adults are members of subgroups that support or encourage aggression. However, the data examined strongly suggest that these subgroups are not coterminous with the groups "lower class" or "blacks." At this time there is no evidence that the latter groups, which have disproportionately high rates of homicide, are substantially different from middle-class whites in their rate of approval of the use of physical aggression in peer situations. These findings, along with a previous paper by the author, question whether a culture of poverty exists in United States society. The policy implications involve a recognition of the competence of the vast majority of members of these groups and the broadening of nonpaternalistic opportunity for personal development. To the extent that aggression is itself the (direct or indirect) result of structural factors such social reform will· also reduce the rate of aggression. -------_._-------_. --_.---------_._----_....._--_._-----_.._---_.__ ..__._._---._._-_._-_._-----_._.-.--_ ... --_.._...AM EMPIRICAL TEST OF THE SUBCULTURE OF VIOLENCE THESIS Recently the conoept of a subculture of violence has received much attention. Although linked in some ways to the concept of the subculture of poverty, and discussed in that and in other contexts by many scholars, in sociology the concept of a subculture of violence is most clearly associa4ed with the work of Wolfgang (Wolfgang, 1958; Wolfgang and Ferracuti, 1967). This paper proposes criteria for the empirical determination of when attitudinal differences between groups may be said to be "subcultural" and then tests Wolfgang and Ferracuti's thesis using survey data on self-reported aggression and on attitudes toward violence. Although the data do not permit a definitive test of the subcultural thesis, the findings suggest that blacks and the white lower class '. as groups, do not differ substantially from the white middleand upper~classes in their experiences with violence or in their attitudes towards the use of violence in interpersonal situations. These findings are supplemented with discussion of observational studies of lower-class communities and of the literature on the culture of poverty debate. An additional note explores the relevance of the subculture of violence thesis to the explanation of the disproportionately high murder rate in the South. All major sociological analyses of acts of physical aggression among adult peers are based on officially recorded data on homicide processes, and those which deal primarily with violence as a consciously can be divided into those which emphasize the latent effect of social and criminal assault. _... _----------------_._----~-_._--~-I I