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Delinquency and Disdain: Social Capital and the Control of Right-Wing Extremism Among East and West Berlin Youth

NCJ Number
163665
Journal
American Journal of Sociology Volume: 100 Issue: 4 Dated: (January 1995) Pages: 1028-1052
Author(s)
J Hagan; H Merkens; K Boehnke
Date Published
1995
Length
25 pages
Annotation
The concept of subterranean traditions was linked to those of control theory, anomic aspirations, and social capital to explain right-wing extremism and school delinquency in a study involving 489 students in 7th through 10th grades in 16 public schools in East and West Berlin, Germany in 1991 and 1992.
Abstract
The analysis indicated that weakened informal social controls and anomic aspirations lead to delinquent drift and extremist and delinquent involvement. East Berlin youth are uniquely exposed and vulnerable to anomic aspirations and associated right-wing extremism, but their schools and parents have significant roles in suppressing their right- wing attitudes. Schools and families are underappreciated sources of informal social control and resulting social capital that constrain right-wing extremism and related youth problems during a period of rapid social change in the former East Germany. Figure, tables, and 59 references (Author abstract modified)