Legal cynicism and (subcultural?) tolerance of deviance: The neighborhood context of racial differences

We advance here a neighborhood-level perspective on racial differences in l egal cynicism, dissatisfaction with police, and the tolerance of various fo rms of deviance. Our basic premise is that structural characteristics of ne ighborhoods explain variations in normative orientations about law, crimina l justice, and deviance that are often confounded with the demographic char acteristics of individuals. Using a multilevel approach that permits the de composition of variance within and between neighborhoods, we tested hypothe ses on a recently completed study of 8,782 residents of 343 neighborhoods i n Chicago. Contrary to received wisdom, we find that African Americans and Latinos are less tolerant of deviance-including violence-than whites. At th e same time, neighborhoods of concentrated disadvantage display elevated le vels of legal cynicism, dissatisfaction with police, and tolerance of devia nce unaccounted for by sociodemographic composition and crime-rate differen ces. Concentrated disadvantage also helps explain why African Americans are more cynical about law and dissatisfied with the police. Neighborhood cont ext is thus important for resolving the seeming paradox that estrangement f rom legal norms and agencies of criminal justice, especially by blacks, is compatible with the personal condemnation of deviance.