ABSTRACT
The phrase ‘middle-class values’ occurs frequently in much current sociological literature. For example, in his chapter ‘Sociology as a Form of Consciousness’, Peter Berger 1 refers to ‘the world of middle-class, respectable, publicly approved values’ in explaining the frames of reference of social workers and police officers when they are attempting to deal with the ‘problem’ of teenagers who become involved in the activities of a juvenile gang. Berger shows how the sociologist has to be concerned with the ‘values and modes of action of both systems’, meaning by ‘both systems’, I presume, the rationale of living which guides on the one hand the social workers and other ‘respectable’ members of society, and, on the other, the leaders of gangs and their followers. It is the use of the word ‘value’ which concerns me, particularly because it seems to me it may so easily be confused with the word ‘habit’.
