An Eye for an Eye? A Note on the Southern Subculture of Violence Thesis

Christopher G. Ellison

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Crime Patterns and Interventions Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse

Abstract

Efforts to explain regional variations in rates of violent crime have frequently cited the southern subculture of violence thesis. However, the evidence for the existence of such a subculture has been inconclusive. This study investigates regional differences in the levels and determinants of support for interpersonal violence under defensive or retaliatory circumstances. Using data from the 1983 General Social Survey, this research finds that native southerners are disproportionately inclined to condone defensive or retaliatory forms of violence. There is evidence that the public religious culture of the South may play a significant role in legitimizing these types of violence. Some results are consistent with arguments that interregional migration and cohort substitution are attenuating regional differences in views regarding violence. Several directions for future research on violent attitudes are discussed.

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References

1989Divine Relations, Social Relations, and Well-Being 1971Homicide and a Regional Culture of Violence 1974Regional Subculture and Homicide: An Examination of the Gastil-Hackney Thesis 1983Regional and Racial Effects on the Urban Homicide Rate: The Subculture of Violence Revisited 1980Firearms Ownership for Sport and Protection: Two Divergent Models 1980Type of Homicide and Variation in Regional Rates 1973The Enduring South: Subcultural Persistence in Mass Society.1973Justifying Violence: Attitudes of American Men.

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