John K. Cochran

RELIGIOSITY, SOCIAL CLASS, AND ALCOHOL USE: An Application of Reference Group Theory

This paper illustrates how religiosity influences behavior in everyday life by investigating the linkages among religiosity, social class, and alcohol consumption. Reference group theory provides a theoretical basis for understanding these linkages.

Religious Change and Alcohol Use: An Application of Reference Group and Socialization Theory

This paper illustrates how religiosity influences behavior in everyday life by investigating the link between religious change and alcohol consumption. Reference group and socialization theory provide theoretical grounds for understanding this relationship.

The sanctuary movement and the smuggling of undocumented Central Americans into the United States: Crime, deviance, or defiance?

We introduce the concept of defiant behavior: actions that, although often defined politically as crime, are defined by their actors as necessary, legitimate, and morally appropriate. We then link this concept to two distinct substantive subfields of sociology: (1) criminology and the sociology of deviance and social control, and (2) political sociology and the sociology of social movements. A review of the literature on organized defiance suggests a clear theoretical confluence between the microstructural concept of biographic availability, drawn from the resource mobilization and political process perspectives within the sociology of social movements, and social control theories of crime and deviance. Likewise, there is a similar confluence between the socialization effects of prior activism, also from the resource mobilization perspective, and differential association/social learning theory in criminology. Finally, we present results from a study of the defiant activities of some members of the sanctua...

MONETARY GAINS FROM CRIME AND THE AGGREGATE SUPPLY OF CRIME: A TEST OF COMPETING HYPOTHESES

ABSTRACT Recent longitudinal analyses of macro-social data indicate that formal sanctions have little, if any, effect on the aggregate supply of crime. It is our contention that the exclusion of other factors which enter into the decision-making processes of potential offenders renders these negative findings suspect. Drawing on insights from utilitarian theories of crime control, the present investigation seeks to extend the previous research by examining the influence of objective measures of monetary gains from crime, the risk of apprehension, and legitimate economic opportunities, on the aggregate supply of economic crime within a large Southwestern city. The ARIMA analyses of monthly data, spanning the years 1975 to 1989, indicate that gains from crime have no effect on the aggregate supply of economic crime. The implications of these findings for utilitarian theory are discussed.

THE INFLUENCE OF A COST-BENEFIT FUNCTION ON THE SUPPLY OF ECONOMIC CRIMES: A SPECIFIC TEST OF THE PROFIT MAXIMIZING THESIS

ABSTRACT Most utilitarian theories assume that people are rational and tend to favor activities which maximize profits and minimize losses. Hence, when the gains associated with illegal behavior outweigh the costs, the volume of crime is expected to increase. Most macro-social research based on this perspective examines the effects of only one piece of information that informs the decision to violate the law, namely the probability of experiencing negative sanctions. To the extent that prospective offenders simultaneously consider both the gains and losses associated with selecting a particular course of action, the failure to take into account gains accrued from illegal activities in analyses of criminal behavior is likely to produce an omitted variable bias. Moreover, utilitarian theories of crime specifically discuss the effects of the gains from crime relative to costs. Hence, properly specified models should include cost-benefit functions. The present study seeks to extend previous macro-social resea...