Delinquency in the White Middle-Class Youth of America

Across the wide body of studies delving into delinquency in America, it is easy to locate research on and analysis of minorities, underprivileged socioeconomic urban centers, and turbulent family structures. However, this leaves a significant section of the delinquent population largely neglected: white middle-class youth. Contrary to the factors shown to affect delinquency in others and the applications of theory applied to them, the issues plaguing this particular portion of adolescents are in many cases entirely unique, suggesting the necessity of a more nuanced approach from angles that have up until fairly recently remained unexplored.
THE TEXT
With this book, Currie seeks to explore causes for delinquency among white middle-class American youth, analyze methods of absolution, and suggest policy and community changes that may serve to help this often-overlooked demographic and reduce rates of delinquency.
Across the text, Currie opts for a very straightforward, down-to-earth diction that suggests a he’s writing for a general audience beyond the sociological community, in several cases using phrases like “what social scientists call,” and further explaining the conventions of the discipline for the reader (Currie 2005). His points are easily digestible and simply but thoroughly explained, and he cites a wide variety of direct quotes, existing literature and recent, relevant news sources to support his observations.

Main Arguments
First, Currie outlines the idea that youth drift into an apathetic state of “whatever” rather than simply seeking out delinquency. In this perspective, it is a gradual slide from conformity to offending brought about by increasing apathy rather than a large, traumatic event. This slide is largely a...

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Currie, Elliot. 2005. The Road to Whatever: Middle-Class Culture and the Crisis of Adolescence. New York: Metropolitan Books.

Chambliss, William J. 1973. “The Saints and the Roughnecks.” Society 11 (1):24-31.

Lerman, Paul. 2002. "Twentieth-Century Developments in America's Institutional Systems for Youth in Trouble." Pp. 74-109 in "Twentieth-Century Developments in America's Institutional Systems for Youth in Trouble."U Chicago Press (http://ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/60043723?accountid=7118).

Skyes, Gresham M. and David Matza. 1998. “Techniques of Neutralization: A Theory of Delinquency.” Pp. 105-116 in Juvenile Delinquency: Historical, Theoretical, and Societal Reactions to Youth, 2nd ed., edited by P. M. Sharp and B. M. Hancock. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.