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Income Inequality and Property Crime
Author(s) -
STACK STEVEN
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
criminology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.467
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1745-9125
pISSN - 0011-1384
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-9125.1984.tb00299.x
Subject(s) - inequality , argument (complex analysis) , property (philosophy) , property crime , economic inequality , relative deprivation , sociology , criminology , social inequality , income inequality metrics , economics , demographic economics , positive economics , violent crime , mathematics , social science , epistemology , mathematical analysis , biochemistry , chemistry , philosophy
Cultural issues that act as intervening variables in the inequality‐crime relationship have been neglected in the literature on inequality and crime. The present article explores the interaction between inequality and variables thought to be associated with a perception that inequality is illegitimate. The central argument is that the strength of inequality‐crime relationship is dependent on a contextual factor, a radical egalitarian culture promoting the view that inequality is illegitimate. Data on property crime from 62 nations are analyzed. The results generally indicate that neither inequality nor the interaction between inequality and egalitarian culture exerts independent effects on property crime.