The Adolescent and His Society

Abstract

For purposes of this review we have considered the terms subculture and subsociety as synonyms and defined them as collections of individuals interrelated through shared experiences and possessing shared activities, beliefs, and values. We have been guided also by a concern with the several levels or areas of theory which researchers have used to attack problems in the area: sociological, social psychological, and individual psychological. We developed such a concern from shifts in language systems within arguments and the confusion which often resulted from such shifts. Finally, we have been made sensitive once again to such basic methodological problems as interpreting correlational data causally and differing operational measures of the same concept which produce conflicting data, especially when the indicators vary between such modalities as questionnaires and direct observation.* For instance, in a very complex book, Rebellion in the High School, Stinchcombe (1964) argued that cultural, social structural, and psychological factors produced expressive alienation and this, in turn, led to rebellious behavior. As his analysis proceeded, several problems arose. The data were all obtained from questionnaires, which raised questions of independence of measures. Some of the propositions-e.g., girls who are low in achievement form an image of their future in marriage-might be interpreted reversibly or in terms of third factors. Subaspects of the alienation concept became intermediary and interpretive variables in their own right. Finally, the analysis employed concepts from different theoretical systems, i.e., universalistic labor markets, negativism, etc., which were difficult to integrate with theoretical precision.