IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ratsoc/v18y2006i2p193-235.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social Class and Delinquency

Author

Listed:
  • Rolf Becker

    (University of Berne, Switzerland, rolf.becker@sis.unibe.ch)

  • Guido Mehlkop

    (Dresden University of Technology, Germany, guido.mehlkop@mailbox.tu-dresden.de)

Abstract

The frequently predicted relationship between social class and criminal behavior is theoretically vacillating and empirically exiguous. We present an extended rational choice model which integrates the effects of an individual’s social status on his or her subjective evaluations of (1) costs, (2) utility, (3) the probability of apprehension, (4) the selective incentives, and (5) the internalization of social norms. We test the model against the offences of shop-lifting and tax-evasion. The data source derived from the German General Social Survey empirically supports the theoretical model. There exists no prevalent relationship between an individual’s social status and his or her incentives towards criminal comportment. However, the social status of an individual affects the type of offences committed. The subjectively expected probability of either failing or succeeding in a criminal act takes greater precedence over the fear of retribution or the expected utility. Additionally, internalized norms decrease the probability of committing a crime.

Suggested Citation

  • Rolf Becker & Guido Mehlkop, 2006. "Social Class and Delinquency," Rationality and Society, , vol. 18(2), pages 193-235, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:18:y:2006:i:2:p:193-235
    DOI: 10.1177/1043463106063323
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1043463106063323
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1043463106063323?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary S. Becker, 1974. "Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach," NBER Chapters, in: Essays in the Economics of Crime and Punishment, pages 1-54, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    3. Tom R. Tyler, 1997. "Procedural Fairness and Compliance with the Law," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 133(II), pages 219-240, June.
    4. Grogger, Jeff, 1998. "Market Wages and Youth Crime," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(4), pages 756-791, October.
    5. Opp, Karl-Dieter, 1989. "The Economics of Crime and the Sociology of Deviant Behaviour: A Theoretical Confrontation of Basic Propositions," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3), pages 405-430.
    6. Davis, Michael L, 1988. "Time and Punishment: An Intertemporal Model of Crime," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(2), pages 383-390, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kroneberg, Clemens & Heintze, Isolde & Mehlkop, Guido, 2008. "On shoplifting and tax fraud : an action-theoretic analysis of crime," Papers 08-16, Sonderforschungsbreich 504.
    2. Guido Mehlkop & Peter Graeff, 2010. "Modelling a rational choice theory of criminal action: Subjective expected utilities, norms, and interactions," Rationality and Society, , vol. 22(2), pages 189-222, May.
    3. van Winden Frans A.A.M. & Ash Elliott, 2012. "On the Behavioral Economics of Crime," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 181-213, June.
    4. Korndörfer, Martin & Krumpal, Ivar & Schmukle, Stefan C., 2014. "Measuring and explaining tax evasion: Improving self-reports using the crosswise model," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 18-32.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Guido Mehlkop & Peter Graeff, 2010. "Modelling a rational choice theory of criminal action: Subjective expected utilities, norms, and interactions," Rationality and Society, , vol. 22(2), pages 189-222, May.
    2. Carneiro, Francisco Galrao & Loureiro, Paulo R.A. & Sachsida, Adolfo, 2005. "Crime and social interactions: a developing country case study," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 311-318, May.
    3. Conley, John P. & Wang, Ping, 2006. "Crime and ethics," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 107-123, July.
    4. Jacques Pelletan, 2013. "Knowledge society and crime: an ambiguous relation," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(3), pages 1852-1862.
    5. Sergio Beraldo & Raul Caruso & Gilberto Turati, 2012. "Life is Now! Time Discounting and Crime: Aggregate Evidence from the Italian Regions (2002-2007)," Working papers 013, Department of Economics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino.
    6. Beraldo, Sergio & Caruso, Raul & Turati, Gilberto, 2013. "Life is now! Time preferences and crime: Aggregate evidence from the Italian regions," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 73-81.
    7. Basiglio Stefania & Foresta Alessandra & Turati Gilberto, 2021. "Impatience and crime. Evidence from the NLSY97," Working papers 073, Department of Economics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino.
    8. Paul J. Zak, 2000. "Larceny," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 157-179, July.
    9. van Ours, Jan C. & Williams, Jenny & Ward, Shannon, 2015. "Bad Behavior: Delinquency, Arrest and Early School Leaving," CEPR Discussion Papers 10755, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Entorf, Horst & Spengler, Hannes, 2000. "Socioeconomic and demographic factors of crime in Germany: Evidence from panel data of the German states," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 75-106, March.
    11. Imrohoroglu, Ayse & Merlo, Antonio & Rupert, Peter, 2000. "On the Political Economy of Income Redistribution and Crime," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 41(1), pages 1-25, February.
    12. Milo Bianchi & Paolo Buonanno & Paolo Pinotti, 2012. "Do Immigrants Cause Crime?," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(6), pages 1318-1347, December.
    13. Giulio Fella & Giovanni Gallipoli, 2014. "Education and Crime over the Life Cycle," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 81(4), pages 1484-1517.
    14. Arturo Bris, 2005. "Do Insider Trading Laws Work?," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 11(3), pages 267-312, June.
    15. Altindag, Duha T., 2012. "Crime and unemployment: Evidence from Europe," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 145-157.
    16. Eduardo Ferraz & Rodrigo Soares & Juan Vargas, 2022. "Unbundling the relationship between economic shocks and crime," Chapters, in: Paolo Buonanno & Paolo Vanin & Juan Vargas (ed.), A Modern Guide to the Economics of Crime, chapter 8, pages 184-204, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Paolo Buonanno & Daniel Montolio & Paolo Vanin, 2009. "Does Social Capital Reduce Crime?," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52(1), pages 145-170, February.
    18. Williams, Geoffrey Fain, 2015. "Property crime: Investigating career patterns and earnings," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 124-138.
    19. Justina A.V. Fischer, 2005. "The Impact of Direct Democracy on Crime: Is the Median Voter Boundedly Rational?," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2005 2005-14, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
    20. Henri Atangana ondoa, 2014. "The determinants of corporate corruption in Cameroon," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 34(2), pages 938-950.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:18:y:2006:i:2:p:193-235. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.