“The incommensurability of Matza’s theory of drift with a sense of injustice in juvenile delinquents”

The word ‘drift’ is used in criminology primarily as a verb, to indicate movement from a state of nonoffending to offending and vice versa. However, Matza intended and used the word ‘drift’ as a noun, a consequence of being pushed and pulled by forces extraneous to the self which creates the conditi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Shon, Phillip Chong Ho 19XX- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2023
In: Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Criminology
Year: 2023, Volume: 15, Pages: 1-16
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
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Summary:The word ‘drift’ is used in criminology primarily as a verb, to indicate movement from a state of nonoffending to offending and vice versa. However, Matza intended and used the word ‘drift’ as a noun, a consequence of being pushed and pulled by forces extraneous to the self which creates the condition of an effect similar to anomie. In this paper, I reinterpret Matza’s theory of drift and argue that his sociological theory of delinquency presupposes a psychological theory of personality in a way that replicates the Glueck-Sutherland debate of the 1940s by professing the salience of social factors while assuming the primacy of psychological processes. I argue that Matza’s sociological argument is incommensurate with the particular psychology of personality formation that his theory presupposes. I provide an alternative account of how anger that precedes delinquency is formed in the personalities of offenders using Alfred Adler’s Individual Psychology.
Item Description:Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 12-16