Summary
Contents
Subject index
Via 100 entries or "mini-chapters," 21st Century Anthropology: A Reference Handbook highlights the most important topics, issues, questions, and debates any student obtaining a degree in the field of anthropology ought to have mastered for effectiveness in the 21st century. This two-volume set provides undergraduate majors with an authoritative reference source that serves their research needs with more detailed information than encyclopedia entries but in a clear, accessible style, devoid of jargon, unnecessary detail or density.Key Features- Emphasizes key curricular topics, making it useful for students researching for term papers, preparing for GREs, or considering topics for a senior thesis, graduate degree, or career.- Comprehensive, providing full coverage of key subthemes and subfields within the discipline, such as applied anthropology, archaeology and paleontology, sociocultural anthropology, evolution, linguistics, physical and biological anthropology, primate studies, and more.- Offers uniform chapter structure so students can easily locate key information, within these sections: Introduction, Theory, Methods, Applications, Comparison, Future Directions, Summary, Bibliography & Suggestions for Further Reading, and Cross References.- Available in print or electronically at SAGE Reference Online, providing students with convenient, easy access to its contents.
Delinquency
Delinquency
What is juvenile delinquency? In common parlance, there is an understanding of juvenile delinquency as meaning adolescents breaking the law or participating in mischievous behavior. Defining juveniles as being under the age of 18 years is the general rule of thumb because, in the current legal system, upon reaching this age individuals can be tried as adults, serve in the military, and, in some states, consume alcohol.
One may ask why juvenile delinquency is viewed as a separate construct from adult deviant behavior. The answer to this legitimate question is derived historically from societal attitudes about children (Aries, 1962). Only after the Victorian Age were children seen as emotionally and intellectually developing human beings. During the Victorian Age, children were simply viewed as little adults. They were not regarded as having a world of their own. Their reality was that of their elders. With the industrial revolution and the social reforms that followed (child labor laws, mandatory educational requirements, etc.), children were viewed as a group to be protected. From this attitude concerning the welfare of children sprang the juvenile justice system. The role of the juvenile justice system was to rehabilitate wayward youth. The idea of parens patriae, the court acting as the parent, became the foundation for the juvenile justice system. Unlike the adult criminal justice system, which was a penal system demanding restitution and levying penalties for breaking the law, the juvenile justice system was seen as a means to reform adolescents who, through no fault of their own, had fallen victim to deviant ways, through either bad friends or lack of parental guidance. Driving the juvenile justice system was the philosophy that the young could be rehabilitated.
It is this view of adolescence that persists to this day, at least to a limited degree. While there is the inevitable ebb and flow of societal reaction to juvenile crime, the underlying attitudes about society's perceptions of childhood emotional and psychological development affect how society assesses juvenile crime.
Historical Perspective
Upon birth, it was customary for children during the Middle Ages to be presented to their fathers, who either accepted them into the family or rejected them. If they were not accepted into the family, then they would be left to churches or orphanages. Reasons for not being accepted could be deformity or disease (Aries, 1962).
As soon as they were physically capable, children were expected to take on adult occupations. Society did not acknowledge the existence of childhood as we know it today. As soon as they were old enough to train or apprentice, children would, depending upon their economic class, prepare for their given occupation.
Social status would determine whether schooling was in a young man's future. For boys of landholding families, a monastery school might be called for with eventual knighthood. Girls from landholding families might be taught rudimentary household finances in order to run their future husband's homes. For boys of poorer families, education would entail farming or learning their father's trade such as masonry, and for the girls, these occupations would include housekeeping and domestic trades such as needlework.
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