NCJ Number
147315
Journal
American Journal of Sociology Volume: 73 Issue: 4 Dated: (January 1968) Pages: 513-517
Date Published
1968
Length
5 pages
Annotation
The author presents conceptual and methodological questions that must be addressed before accepting the thesis that the pair or triad, not the group or gang, is the social unit most frequently used by subcultural boys in their deviance.
Abstract
Short claims that one may question the efficacy of Lerman's survey technique in seeking information which is to be used for attacking the theoretical issues toward which Lerman's paper is directed. The problem is not only the possible reluctance of gang boys to reveal their gang identity to a strange young adult, it is also a matter of the identity assumed by boys in response to the particular question asked. The point is both methodological and theoretical. One does not know the margin of error (if any) introduced by the method. To the extent that the data are reliable, they do not deny the gang as a setting for delinquent subcultures. It is in the closer relations between two or three friends that much of gang life occurs, and it is these associations which lend cohesiveness to groups otherwise often lacking this quality. Lerman's reply contains his conclusion that his differences with Short are based not on methodology but on social facts and interpretations of these facts. Footnotes, tables