ETHNIC-MINORITIES, CULTURE CONFLICTS AND CRIME

Since the mid-sixties debate among German criminologists has centered around the impact of cultural conflict on deviance and crime. Research in this area is restricted to individual level explanations of behavi or. There is, however, another avenue provided by culture conflict the ories. This paper describes the contemporary German situation and sugg ests that shared values and collective morals are no longer the nucleu s of stability in modem industrial societies; they have been replaced by a material culture. When large proportions of the population are de nied access to this material culture, the potential for a collective r eaction increases. Violent behavior is then justified by the assertion that culture or national identities are being defended. Thus, collect ive reactions might lead to cultural conflicts between groups and go b eyond individual violent acts or other types of deviance.