ABSTRACT
The existence of juvenile delinquency in the middle and upper classes poses serious problem for theories which depend on status deprivation, social disorganization, and similar explanatory variables. There are many perceptive accounts describing the behavior of juvenile delinquents and their underlying values, using methods ranging from participant observation to projective tests. Some writers have coupled the delinquent's disdain of work with a disdain of money. The delinquent has picked up and emphasized one part of the dominant value system, namely, the subterranean values that coexist with other, publicly proclaimed values possessing a more respectable air. The delinquent's readiness for aggression is particularly emphasized in the analysis of juvenile gangs found in the slum areas of large cities. In any event, the values of a leisure class seem to lie behind much delinquent activity, however brutalized or perverted their expression may be accounted by the dominant social order.
