Marketized Mentality, Schools, and Delinquency: A Multilevel Application of Institutional Anomie Theory

• In Event: Macro Perspectives of Crime and Delinquency

Abstract

This research builds upon prior efforts to apply insights from a macro-sociological theory of crime – institutional anomie theory (IAT) – at multiple levels of analysis. Drawing upon this research, the notion of a “marketized mentality” is introduced as a predictor of students’ delinquency, along with two features of the school community -- an egoistic/competitive school culture and dysfunctional school performance. Five hypotheses derived from the elaborated theoretical framework pertaining to readiness to use violence and self-reported delinquency were assessed with data from a survey in Germany for 4,201 students clustered in 70 schools. The results are largely in accord with theoretical expectations. The measure of marketized mentality is related to both forms of delinquency at the individual-level of analysis net of control variables, and the indicators of a competitive/egoistic school climate and dysfunctional performance of the school help explain variation in levels of these forms of delinquency across schools. Also consistent with expectations, for the attitudinal readiness for violence, the anti-social effects of marketized mentality are accentuated as a competitive/egoistic school climate and the dysfunctional performance of schools increase. The cross-level interaction was not found for self-reported delinquency as dependent variable.

Authors

• Eva Groß, IKG, Bielefeld University (associated) / Lower Saxony State Office of Criminal Investigation

• Andreas Hövermann, University Bielefeld

• Steven Messner, University at Albany, SUNY