Delinquency and Disdain: Social Capital and the Control of Right-Wing Extremism Among East and West Berlin Youth

Abstract

The authors link the notion of subterranean traditions to the concepts of control theory, anomic aspirations, and social capital to explain right-wing extremism and school delinquency among German Youth. Weakened informal social controls and anomic aspirations lead to delinquent drift and extremist and delinquent involvements. East Berlin youth are uniquely exposed and vulnerable to anomic aspirations and associated right-wing extremism, but their schools and parents play significant roles in suppressing their rightwing attitudes. Schools and families are underappreciated sources of informal social control and resulting social capital that constrain right-wing extremism and related problems of young people during a period of rapid social change in the former East Germany.