Social Class and Delinquent Behavior

The apparent refutation by self‐report studies of social class‐related theories of juvenile delinquency is critically reviewed. Improper conceptualization and operationalization of “social class” are considered to be primary causes of inconsistent findings. A more appropriate “underclasslearning class” model of stratification is suggested. Although no empirical support is found for a relationship between self‐reported delinquent behavior and socioeconomic status of father's occupation. indications are that social class is somewhat more related to self‐reported delinquency using the underclass/earning class model. However, there is no reason to expect social class to emerge as a major correlate of delinquent behavior no matter how it is measured.