Construct · 1 fields · 1 citations

focal concerns: a standalone construct

One name. One construct. A landmark on the map.

● anchor · the values a subculture lives by Nearest construct by meaning·not indexed
focalconcerns1 CONSTRUCTFocal concernsMILLER · 1958

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Criminology

Subcultural values that pull toward delinquency

Focal concerns are the clustered values and preoccupations that Walter Miller argued organize lower-class street life (things like toughness, smartness, excitement, fate, autonomy, and staying out of trouble), adherence to which can pull young men toward delinquency even without any intent to break the law. Miller's 1958 Lower class culture as a generating milieu of gang delinquency laid out these concerns as a cultural system in its own right rather than a reaction against middle-class norms. The construct explains gang delinquency as conformity to a subculture's own priorities. (A separate, later 'focal concerns' perspective on judicial sentencing borrows the same phrase for the concerns that guide judges; that is a distinct usage.)[1]

Unit
The set of cultural priorities a subculture treats as central
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Described ethnographically as recurring concerns: toughness, smartness, excitement, fate, autonomy, and trouble

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Nearby constructs

differential association1 fields · 2 citationsanchor · crime is learned in groupsadherence3 fields · 5 citationsjingle · one word, three constructsautonomy6 fields · 14 citationsjingle · one name, six constructs

References

  1. Miller, W. B. (1958). Lower class culture as a generating milieu of gang delinquency. Journal of Social Issues, 14(3), 5–19. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1958.tb01413.x

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