THE CHARAKA COMPLEX

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Abstract
This study uses a subcultural approach to explain why most delinquents abandon crime as they reach adulthood. An ethnographic study of an Israeli slum, it reveals that the slum culture is composed of different age groups, one of which—the youth— promotes delinquency, while the others practice conventional behavior. While the youth encourage some deviant and daring acts, they also encourage activities that facilitate an eventual movement into the conventional world of adults. The cohesiveness of the community as a whole leads to affectionate interaction between the various age groups in the slum, with the result that members of youth gangs emulate adult role models and experience anticipatory socialization. The adults' influence as role models enables them to curb excessive deviant acts, and accounts for the boys' smooth maturation out of delinquency.

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