The Success of the Civilization Offensive: Societal Adaptation of Reformed Boys in the Early Twentieth Century in the Netherlands

Societal adaptation after reform school was studied for almost 200 men born around 1900 in the Netherlands. The men came mostly from disadvantaged backgrounds: parents were ill-equipped to raise them, alcoholics, criminal or extremely poor. The men held significantly higher occupations than their father, and outperformed general upward social mobility. Their marriage chances were approximately normative; divorce chances were much increased. Almost half were delinquent and one in six was either a chronic or a serious criminal. Marriage and employment patterns were associated and were associated with childhood risk factors as well. Delinquency was predicted only by having a convicted father. We conclude that the civilization offensive was partly successful in that it mainly equipped these men for better than expected employment careers.