Still Just the Study of Men and Crime? A Content Analysis.

Several authors have argued that criminology is an androcentric discipline. This study examined both recent and earlier crime and delinquency literature in order to investigate changes in the degree of androcentrism in criminology. Articles were sampled from four major criminology journals from the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hannon, Lance., Dufour, Lynn Resnick.
Format: Villanova Faculty Authorship
Language:English
Published: 1998
Online Access:http://ezproxy.villanova.edu/login?url=https://digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:176717
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Summary:Several authors have argued that criminology is an androcentric discipline. This study examined both recent and earlier crime and delinquency literature in order to investigate changes in the degree of androcentrism in criminology. Articles were sampled from four major criminology journals from the periods 1974-1978 and 1992-1996 (n = 202 and n = 174, respectively). As an indicator of androcentricity, we compared the proportion of journal articles that included both males and females in the sample vs. the proportion of articles that only sampled one sex. As an indicator of overgeneralization (the tendency of androcentric research to present itself as generalizable to both sexes), we measured the proportion of articles that specifically noted in the title that one sex was sampled. Results suggest that while females are sampled much more frequently than in the past, male is still very much the norm within criminological research. 1974¯1978 and 1992¯1996 (n = 202 an d n = 174‚ respectively). As an indicator of androcentricity‚ we compared the proportion of journal articles that included both males and females in the sample vs. the proportion of articles that only sampled one sex. As an indicator of overgeneralization (the tendency of androcentric research to present itself as generalizable to both sexes)‚ we measured the proportion of articles that specifically noted in the title that one sex was sampled. Results suggest that while females are sampled much more frequently than in the past‚ male is still very much the norm within criminological research.