A TEST OF THE BLACK SUBCULTURE OF VIOLENCE THESIS - A RESEARCH NOTE

We use data from the General Social Survey (1983 to 1991) to test Wolf gang and Ferracutti's hypothesis that violent values ape widespread am ong African-Americans. Contrary to the expectations of the black subcu lture of violence thesis, our analyses indicate that white males are s ignificantly more likely than blacks to express violent tendencies in defensive situations and that there is no significant difference betwe en white and black males in offensive situations, ceteris paribus. Thu s, we have rejected, within the limitations of our data, the hypothesi s that a unique subculture of violence exists among the general popula tion of African-Americans in the United States.