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In criminology, the power-control theory of gender and delinquency (abbreviated as the power-control theory) holds the gender distribution of delinquency is caused by stratification from gender relations within the family. The theory seeks to explain gender differences in the rates of delinquency by attributing them to the level of social/parental control practiced. The theory states that the class, gender, and type of family structure (e.g. egalitarian or patriarchal) will influence the severity of social/parental control practiced which will in turn set the "accepted norm" for the child/individual. This norm will in turn control the level of delinquency by the individual. Power Control theory differs from other control theories that view crime as a cause of low social status (cited from book). This theory compares gender and parental control mechanisms in two different types of families; patriarchal and egalitarian to explain the differences in self-reported male and female misconduct. In patriarchal families, traditional gender roles were in practice, where the father would work outside the home, and the mother would be responsible for the child rearing. In egalitarian families, the household roles were shared equally between mothers and fathers.〔O'Grady 2007, p. 110.〕 The theory was originally posited by John Hagan and further developed by A.R. Gillis and John Simpson at the University of Toronto. ==Development== Social scientific theory has to do with what is, not what should be. A theory is a systematic explanation for the observed facts and laws that relate to a particular aspect of life – juvenile delinquency, for example, or perhaps social stratification or political revolution. Joseph Maxwell (2005, 42) defines theory as “a set of concepts and the proposed relationships among these, a structure that is intended to represent or model something about the world.” Often, social scientists begin constructing a theory by observing aspects of social life, seeking to discover patterns that may point to more or less universal principles. The power control theory was developed through a series of self-report surveys that was administered to high school students and their parents in suburban Toronto. Hagan and his colleagues contended that gender and the social class of the students' parents had an impact on how much freedom these students had. For example, coming of age as they argued, was a more limiting experience than growing up as a male. Thereby, they found that the amount of power a parent had in the workplace was related to the control displayed in the household over their teenaged children. Moreover, parents who had the types of jobs where they must supervise the activities of subordinates also tended to be relatively tolerant of the trouble-making behaviour of their children, especially of their sons. This meant that teenaged boys are freer to deviate than teenaged girls. This study also found, focusing on relatively minor forms of deviance such as shoplifting and breaking street lights, that middle-class youth actually were freer to deviate than working-class youth.〔O'Grady 2007, p. 111.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Power-control theory of gender and delinquency」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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