Cultural conflict theory

The criminological culture conflict theory goes back to the American criminologist Thorsten Sellin and initially referred mainly to American immigrant crime from the interwar period. A distinction is made between external and internal cultural conflict. An external cultural conflict exists when the norms of the home country deviate from those of the country of immigration . An internal cultural conflict arises from general adjustment problems. The importance of external criminogenic, i.e., crime-promoting, cultural conflicts is relativized in contemporary German-language criminology.

External criminogenic cultural conflict

In the event of an external criminogenic cultural conflict, one would be in contradiction to the criminal law provisions of the country of immigration if the values and norms of the home culture were followed . There is little evidence for this, because the different cultures hardly differ from one another when it comes to outlawing core crime . However, institutions such as the southern Italian vendetta or different terms of honor (also in relation to sexual acts) can have a crime-promoting effect .

Empirically speaking against the validity of the thesis of an external criminogenic cultural conflict is that in Germany it is not the immigrants of the first generation, but those of the following generations that are disproportionately registered by the police for criminal offenses. According to the thesis, however, the importance of norms and values of the country of origin would have to wane in the following generations.

Internal criminogenic culture conflict

The internal criminogenic cultural conflict means the situations of those who come under pressure to adapt in a foreign culture (for example: language problems, school problems) and who commit crimes as a result of the stressful situation (but which would also be crimes in their country of origin). Michael Bock cites the "objective disadvantages that are often imposed on strangers" as the cause of such conflicts, but doubts that such disadvantages can still be called a cultural conflict .

literature

Thorsten Sellin : Culture Conflict and Crime. In: American Journal of Sociology . Vol. 44, No. 1, July 1938, pp. 97-103, JSTOR 2768125 .
Shlomo Shoham: Culture Conflict as Frame of Reference for Research in Criminology and Social Deviation. In: Marvin E. Wolfgang (Ed.): Crime and culture. Essays in honor of Thorsten Sellin. Wiley, New York NY et al. 1968, pp. 55-82.

Individual evidence

↑ Michael Bock : Criminology. For study and practice. 4th edition. Franz Vahlen, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-8006-4705-7 , p. 59 f .; Bock calls the external cultural conflict direct , the internal indirect .
↑ Thomas Náplava: juvenile delinquency in interethnic comparison. In: Bernd Dollinger , Henning Schmidt-Semisch (Hrsg.): Handbook of juvenile crime. Criminology and social education in dialogue. 2nd, revised edition. VS - Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-531-18090-8 , pp. 229–240, here p. 234.
↑ Michael Bock: Criminology. For study and practice. 4th edition. Franz Vahlen, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-8006-4705-7 , p. 60.

[1] Michael Bock : Criminology. For study and practice. 4th edition. Franz Vahlen, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-8006-4705-7 , p. 59 f .; Bock calls the external cultural conflict direct , the internal indirect .

[2] Thomas Náplava: juvenile delinquency in interethnic comparison. In: Bernd Dollinger , Henning Schmidt-Semisch (Hrsg.): Handbook of juvenile crime. Criminology and social education in dialogue. 2nd, revised edition. VS - Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-531-18090-8 , pp. 229–240, here p. 234.

[3] Michael Bock: Criminology. For study and practice. 4th edition. Franz Vahlen, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-8006-4705-7 , p. 60.