Abstract
This investigation is a test of one hypothesis advanced in the work of Arthur Stinchcombe which states that higher rates of rebellion in a high school are to be found among academically unsuccessful (and therefore downwardly-mobile) middleclass boys than among working-class boys who similarly are poor performers in school. Drawing upon interview responses from 284 boys selected from a group of high schools in a county in the Pacific Northwest, we are not able to support Stinchcombe's argument. Using a number of measures of rebellion, no pattern emerges whereby white-collar boys who are performing poorly are more rebellious than blue-collar boys at the same level of academic performance. At the same time, levels of rebellion are much higher among those doing poorly in school. This suggests that while Stinchcombe has identified an important variable related to delinquency, i.e., academic failure, the theory he uses to weave together rebellion, failure, and social class background may require some revision.
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