Cloward and Ohlin

Who are Cloward and Ohlin?

• They also based their work on the ideas of Merton’s Strain Theory

• Like Cohen, they suggested that they were more likely to react to blocked opportunities for status in society

• However, They suggested that there was also a greater diversity of subcultural responses and these were based on characteristics of their local area

What are Cloward and Ohlin’s views?

• They suggested that, based upon the area young working-class males lived in, they had different opportunities to commit crime

• They examined areas with existing criminal networks, areas of transition and areas with limited opportunities for criminal behaviour

• They have identified 3 distinct variations of subcultures: criminal, conflict and retreatist

What are criminal subcultures?

• Based in areas where there was an existing structure of criminal behaviour

• Mostly utilitarian crimes, young men were apprenticed into crime by being employed in low-level positions

• Those who displayed the right attitudes and aptitudes were progressed through the organisations- alternative to a legitimate career path

What are conflict subcultures?

• Most likely to develop in areas of transition where social organisation was lower and had less social cohesion

• Rival gangs would form and generate conflict with one another- frustration at being unable to succeed is displaced onto ‘others’ -those who are not members of the group

• Status is awarded for violent and criminal acts towards members of other groups

What are retreatist subcultures?

• Retreat from social integration- similar to Merton’s ‘retreatists’ -as a result of not fitting into social norms or having access to other forms of status

• Substance abuse and petty crimes as a means to escape rejection from society

• Some evidence of networking through connections with other users but limited opportunities for status

What are contemporary examples of subcultures?

• Gang culture that develops in low-income areas of UK cities and towns

• American gangland violence from the 1950s onwards

• Disorganised structures investigated by Winlow (2001) who investigated connections between de-industrialisation and violence in Sunderland

What are the evaluations of Cloward and Ohlin?

• Definitions of conflict and criminal subcultures can become blurred in modern society

• Assume that people subscribe to the norms and values of society in the first place and that failure leads to a reaction against these norms and values

• Matza examines the idea that young males will drift in and out of delinquency- subcultures are phases of young adulthood