ERIC Number: ED139892
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1977
Pages: 9
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Drift, Violence, and the Schools.
Besag, Frank P.
This paper begins by discussing David Matza's concept of "Drift" as a causal factor in violence and delinquent behavior. Matza's theory of delinquency contends that youth are prone to feelings of injustice, neutralization, preparation, and desperation. According to Matza, no one characteristic of the potential delinquent is sufficient, although each characteristic is necessary to delinquent acts. This theory of delinquency explains upper as well as lower class delinquency, urban and rural delinquency, and it explains why delinquents are not delinquent all the time, and why non-delinquents are delinquents some of the time. The second part of the paper discusses the specific role the school plays both in terms of its own internal institutional functions and as a representative of the general society. Schools view certain patterns of behavior as acceptable and desirable. Children who come from those sorts of surroundings or have those characteristics in their lives as those found in the greater society find it easier to conform to school rules. However, children from crowded and noisy environments are viewed as disruptive in the school for behaviors which are considered normal outside of the school. This paper contends that this discrepancy in roles as played outside of the school and inside of it increases the potentiality for drift. Results of three studies investigating the relationship between what happens in the school and what happens in violence and delinquency indicate that the school does indeed have the potential of creating its own internal violence, delinquency, and vandalism. (Author/AM)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A