Abstract:
In the field of social control during the last years the Child Guidance Centres have been studied quite often. However, a frame of reference is lacking, which brings into a context different hypotheses and findings: (1) the function of the Child Guidance Centres as an organization of social control and (2) the overrepresentation of middle and upper-class in the clientele (which cannot be found in any other organization of social control), (3) the content of labeling processes, well distinguished from the labeling by police, social work and criminal justice, and (4) the contributions to the criminalization of lower-class-children.