Specifying the Gender-Class-Delinquency Relationship: Exploring the Effects of Educational Expectations

Abstract

Traditionally, research on the class-crime relationship has ignored gender, while much of the past research on the gender-delinquency relationship has ignored class. Both feminist criminologists and social psychologists, such as House (1981), suggest that analyses of class and gender should involve the examination of how these factors shape individual lives. In this paper we explore the role of educational expectations as one factor shaped by both class and gender. We consider three issues. First, is social class significantly related to female, as well as male, delinquency? Second, does social class shape educational expectations and do they, in turn, enhance the likelihood of delinquent involvement? Third, are there differences by gender in the ways that social class conditions educational expectations? The findings suggest that gender and class are both important factors shaping educational expectations and through them, delinquency.