Sources of legal cynicism among students in China: the role of Western popular culture and social attachment
Previous research has suggested that the presence of subcultures, particularly in minority neighborhoods, can be a major source of legal cynicism, a concept referring to a cynical view of the criminal justice system and the law. The purpose of this paper is to examine the sources of legal cynicism a...
| Authors: | ; ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2021
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| In: |
Journal of crime and justice
Year: 2021, Volume: 44, Issue: 1, Pages: 66-84 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Keywords: |
| Summary: | Previous research has suggested that the presence of subcultures, particularly in minority neighborhoods, can be a major source of legal cynicism, a concept referring to a cynical view of the criminal justice system and the law. The purpose of this paper is to examine the sources of legal cynicism among middle school students in China, a cultural setting that is distinctively different from the US, which has so far been the focus of most analyses. More specifically, it examines the effects of hypothesized factors on legal cynicism reported in earlier studies, which have relied on subculture and bonding theories. The data were gathered from 30 schools in China all of which are home to large populations of ethnic minority students. The primary findings suggest that the influence of Western popular culture, being attributed the label ‘fan of Western popular culture,’ and attachment to family and school, are significant predictors of legal cynicism. The effects, however, of these two groups of variables differ significantly. |
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| ISSN: | 2158-9119 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/0735648X.2020.1768138 |