Politics and deviance: The political status of working class delinquency

Abstract

The thesis looks at the question of whether working class adolescent delinquency can be conceived of as a form of political action. Beginning with the 1960s, when major changes in terms of models and perspectives occurred within the sociology of deviance, the first section traces the development of various attempts to formulate a relationship between deviance and politics. Particular attention is then given to the so-called new criminology, where a rigorous application of Marxian method and theory to the area of crime has been attempted, and to the work in deviance and youth sub-cultures produced by the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. One of the central arguments is that an analysis of the political status of working class delinquency must consider the forms of consciousness involved, consequently part of the thesis is devoted to a discussion of working class consciousness and its relationship to ideology. The final part of the thesis represents an attempt to construct a theoretical framework within which the politics of working class adolescent delinquency may be analysed, and includes detailed consideration of specific studies of delinquency.