Abstract
This article examines the relationship between aligning vocabulary and the distribution of symbols throughout society and shows that differing “symbols banks” exist in society, shaped by social class, culture, ethos, and other factors. Individuals who seek to align their behavior with the predominant norms of society draw from the repertoire of symbols available to them in the “banks” of their sociocultural groups. Empirically, this is illustrated by the neutralization techniques employed by two Israeli youth groups who practiced the same kind of delinquent activity: car theft followed by reckless driving. These two groups, who differed from each other in social class, ethnic origin, and culture, differed also in their neutralization rhetoric, each borrowing from the symbols bank of their sociocultural milieu. The article discusses the types of aligning vocabulary of the groups and contends that a thematic typology of aligning vocabulary, which to date has not been drawn out, can help explain the links between signs and social reality.
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