A Test of the Black Subculture of Violence Thesis: A Research Note*

Abstract

We use data from the General Social Survey (1983 to 1991) to test Wolfgang and Ferracuti's hypothesis that violent values are widespread among African‐Americans. Contrary to the expectations of the black subculture of violence thesis, our analyses indicate that white males are significantly more likely than blacks to express violent tendencies in defensive situations and that there is no significant difference between white and black males in offensive situations, ceteris paribus. Thus, we have rejected, within the limitations of our data, the hypothesis that a unique subculture of violence exists among the general population of African‐Americans in the United States.

Rebuilding at Gunpoint: A City-Level Re-Estimation of the Brady Law and RTC Laws in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina

“…The strongest statistically significant effect in both models is the percent of the population black, which is consistent with the findings of Cao, Adams, & Jensen (1997) and Covington (1999), both of which found significant positive correlations between concentrations of African-Americans in population and homicide rates. The next strongest effect in both models is ALCOHOL, which is consistent with Parker (1995) and Pernanen (1991), both of whom find that alcohol availability exerts especially robust effects on homicide rates.…”

Gun Cultures or Honor Cultures? Explaining Regional and Race Differences in Weapon Carrying

“…The evidence is unclear as to whether blacks and whites differ in their attitudes toward violence (e.g., Blumenthal 1972;Cao et al 1997;Erlanger 1974;Markowitz and Felson 1998;Rossi et al 1974). On the other hand, race differences in violence have been observed at colleges and prisons where blacks and whites are living in similar circumstances (e.g., Harer and Steffensmeier 1996;Volkwein et al 1995).…”

Globalization of gun culture transnational reflections on pistolization and masculinity, flows and resistance

“…They argue that there are regional differences in gun culture, not in honour culture as posited by Cohen, because while gun homicide rates are differentiated, homicide rates without guns are not. Cao et al (1997) suggested that gender and childhood socialization into gun culture are significantly related to protective and general (or sport) firearm possession. In contrast only protective firearm ownership appears to be linked to crime related factors.…”