Orientations to Institutional Authority in Adolescence

Following Weber (1947), we argue that legal socialization entails a commitment to ‘legal-rational’ or institutional authority and that variations in attitudes to such authority emerge in adolescence. Attitudes to institutional authority as represented by the police, the law, and the school or university, were examined in three separate samples with ages varying from 13 to 20 years. In all the groups studied, males were found to have more negative attitudes to institutional authority than females. This corresponded to a sex difference in degree of compliance with legal requirements as assessed by self-reported behaviour in relation to laws, regulations and other institutionally approved standards of conduct. In all but one group, attitudes were significantly, and usually highly, correlated with behaviour. The results are interpreted as lending support to an attitude model of legal socialization.