The Role of Intelligence and Temperament in Interpreting the SES-Crime Relationship
Document Type
Contribution to Books
Publication Date
2014
Abstract
Twenty years ago, Theodore Kemper (1994) noted the importance of socioeconomic status (SES) for understanding social behavior: "Perhaps the fundamental social structure of society is the system of stratification. It so bluntly determines individual conduct, belief, and value preferences, on the one hand, and sheer biological fate on the other...it is the social structure par excellence worthy of close attention" (pp. 47-48). But he also notes that: "if sociology and biology have not been on speaking terms in general, sociological distain for the biological reaches its apogee when it comes to social stratification" (p. 48). If Kemper is correct, sociological disdain should reach stratospheric heights when it comes to linking biology, SES, and criminal behavior
Publication Information
Walsh, Anthony; Taylor, Charlene Y.; and Yun, Ilhong. (2014). "The Role of Intelligence and Temperament in Interpreting the SES-Crime Relationship". The Nurture Versus Biosocial Debate in Criminology: On the Origins of Criminal Behavior and Criminality, 91-106.