Holds that social violence can best be understood from a perspective of inequality and conflict. Argues against previous theory that views violence by the powerful as normative and violence by the powerless as deviant. Discusses parental violence and differential rates of male and female violence from this new perspective. (GC)

Analysis of self-report data from middle class adolescents shows that both peer relationships and elements of adult-child conflict affect the probability of vandalism. The strongest factors are peer-related, possibly because vandalism may be seen as a way of establishing positions within peer hierarchies. (Author/MC)