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Race, Class, and Attitudes Toward Crime Control: The Views of the African American Middle Class

NCJ Number
188502
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 28 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2001 Pages: 259-278
Author(s)
George Wilson; Roger Dunham
Date Published
June 2001
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This study used data from the 1996 General Social Survey to examine how the race, class, and "ethclass" perspectives accounted for middle-class African-Americans' support for four policy-related dimensions of crime control.
Abstract
The General Social Survey (GSS) sample used in this study consisted of members of the African-American and white middle and working classes. The sample was composed of 332 African-Americans (135 middle-class, 197 working-class) and 2,511 white (1,506 middle-class, 1,005 working-class) adults (older than age 17) who satisfied selection criteria along lines of race and social class. The proportion of African-Americans and whites in the sample closely resembled their representation in the total U.S. population. Similarly, the socio-demographic characteristics of both racial groups were nearly identical to their characteristics in the larger U.S. population. The study used descriptive and multivariate analyses to assess the crime-control attitudes of the African-American middle class relative to the African-American working class and white middle and working classes. Findings varied across the policy-related dimensions of crime control and provided support for the race and "ethclass" perspectives. In particular, racial effects were pronounced across dimensions that involved daily contact with law enforcement agents and were muted by incumbency in a privileged class position across dimensions that did not involve daily contact with them. Overall, findings suggest that the African-American middle class was, in principle, at least as invested in crime control as white peers, but mistrust of its implementation explained lower levels of support than that of the white middle class. This article discusses implications regarding how the crime-control issue constitutes a source of division across racial lines among the middle class. Suggestions are offered for future research. 5 tables, 2 notes, and 48 references