Social accounts and subculture of violence norms: A study in Black and Eskimo high schools
Description
This dissertation addresses how retaliation norms develop within adolescent subcultures in schools. Social accounts of violence that are shared amongst peers are examined as natural-setting processes, and are hypothesized to increase group consensus about the appropriateness of face-saving violence. A survey utilizing video vignettes included 139 rural Alaska Eskimo and Black New Orleans high school students. Participation in violence-related social accounts predicted perceived peer violence norms, dependent upon peer relationship variables; and anticipated account-sharing predicted self-reported willingness to use violence, especially for students with pro-violence friends. Post-survey interviews allowed students themselves to assess the study validity and conceptual models, which they generally identified with as common school experiences. Interviews also produced student-generated hypotheses not initially tested by the researcher. These emphasized how perceived violence norms are affected by past violence exposure, peer ridicule, and household violence and alcoholism; the role the student tends to take as either account-giver or account-receiver, and general sociability as a predictor of violence-related account sharing. Second-round quantitative tests analyzed these student propositions, some confirming relevant associations. A broader theoretical perspective discusses why violent subcultures tend to arise in the context of structural-level variables associated with crime, such as poverty, community disorder, and lack of police presence; and lack of escape resources. These factors influence violent subcultures by shaping the objective consequences of violent offending, which only become meaningful as normative violence prescriptions through social account sharing about incident outcomes