Oral History and Delinquency: The Rhetoric of Criminology

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University of Chicago Press, 1988 M01 15 - 380 pages
From Henry Mayhew's classic study of Victorian slums to Studs Terkel's presentations of ordinary people in modern America, oral history has been used to call attention to social conditions. By analyzing the nature and circumstances of the production of such histories of delinquency, James Bennett argues that oral history is a rhetorical device, consciously chosen as such, and is to be understood in terms of its persuasive powers and aims. Bennett shows how oral or life histories of juvenile delinquents have been crucial in communicating the human traits of offenders within their social context, to attract interest in resources for programs to prevent delinquency. Although life history helped to establish the discipline of sociology, Bennett suggests concepts for understanding oral histories generated in many fields.
 

Contents

Introduction
1
Mayhews Use of Oral History
11
2 Mayhew on Delinquency and Street Biography
41
3 John Clay and the Cell Confessional
65
The Art of the Appendix in NineteenthCentury America
89
The Early Juvenile Court
104
6 If Men Define Situations as Real They Are Real in Their Consequences
123
The City as Laboratory
151
Clifford Shaw
179
Saul Alinsky Howard S Becker and the Autobiography of a Girl Drug Addict
211
Genesis Function Accomplishment
240
Aspects of Techniqu Mayhew Healy and Shaw
265
Notes
283
Bibliography
335
Index
353
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About the author (1988)

James Bennett is Coordinator of Foundation Relations, University of Illinois at Chicago.

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