Culture, Socialization, and Firearms Violence in the United States

Authors

Jennifer L. Lanterman, University of Nevada
Sarah J. Blithe, University of Nevada

Abstract

"Firearm violence persists in the United States despite innumerable social, political, and economic changes throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries. Collaborative Event Ethnography was used at seven gun shows in three regions of the United States to explore childhood socialization into firearm culture via intergenerational communication of values and views regarding violence, safety, and the use of firearms. Children were observed at all gun shows engaged in activities ranging from standard play to potentially dangerous activity in an environment characterized by bias and controversy. The findings support social learning theory and provide some insight into the role of culture in the development of firearm-related views and elucidate one possible explanation for the etiology of firearm violence committed by some white males."

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Lanterman, Jennifer L. and Blithe, Sarah J. (2018) "Culture, Socialization, and Firearms Violence in the United States," Qualitative Criminology (QC): Vol. 7: No. 1, Article 2.
Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/qc/vol7/iss1/2