How are macro-level and micro-level theories of delinquency and gang development linked? Be sure to provide examples of at least two theories that link the two levels of theorizing, and implications for empirical testing.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Students should refer to a number of developmental theories such as Sampson and Laub’s age-graded informal social control theory and Vigil’s multiple marginality theory. Students should then indicate that both theories indicate the importance of social control on developmental pathways that lead to delinquency and criminal involvement. In focusing on the importance of social control in determining how individuals develop, these two theories also recognize that structural and historical factors influence the ability of communities under certain conditions (e.g., poor areas, per Sampson and Laub, or second-generation communities of Mexican Americans, per Vigil) to provide effective social control to residents. While Sampson and Laub pay more attention to key features of social disorganization theory (e.g., informal social control), Vigil is more explicit about key features of societal-level theories (e.g., marginalization in conflict theory). Students should then indicate that developmental theories such as Vigil’s that incorporate macrohistorical and macrostructural variables into their models face the largest challenges to empirical testing, since variables such as those are difficult to measure.