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Changes in the Sex Patterning of Perceived Threats of Sanctions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Harold G. Grasmick ,
Brenda Sims Blackwell  and
Robert J. Bursik Jr.
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Abstract

In contrast to a recent survey conducted by Miller and Simpson, two earlier surveys of adults, one conducted in 1972 and the other in 1982, reported that women scored higher than men on measures of what Grasmick and Bursik recently have called perceived threats of shame and embarrassment, as well as legal sanctions, for violating the law. Hagan's power-control theory, coupled with trends in labor force and household composition, is used to predict a decline over time in the magnitude of the effect of sex on perceived threats of sanctions. The 1982 survey is merged with an identical one conducted in 1992 to determine whether men and women have become more alike in their perception of these threats. Evidence supporting the predictions from power-control theory is found for theft but not for assault. The findings are discussed in the context of various theories and previous research concerning gender, crime, and social control.

Type
Gender and Responses to Sanctions
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , 1993 , pp. 679 - 705
Copyright
Copyright © 1993 by The Law and Society Association

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Footnotes

Support for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation, Law and Social Sciences Division, Grant SES-9121856. We wish to thank M'Lou Kimpel, Susan Belau, Suzanne Mitchell, Judy Van Wyk, and Brevin Bourassa for their contributions to this project.

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