Youth and deviance

when are levels of crime and deviance highest

in youth

1 / 3 of crime is committed by 10 - 19 year olds

how much crime do young males commit compared to females

official stats say young males commit 7x as much crime as young females

what trend are sociologists most interested in

the link between social class and crime

young working class males committing more crime than middle or upper class backgrounds

subcultural theorists

• albert cohen

• robert merton

• cloward and ohlin

• walter miller

a. cohen

status frustration

young wc males cannot achieve status through legitimate means so experience status frustration

seek status through forming delinquent subculture with its own values, norms, beliefs

within the subculture they gain status in view of their peers by being deviant

criticism of status frustration

doesn’t explain middle/upper class delinquency

cannot explain why majority of wc boys are not delinquent

can’t explain how they are also pulled into it by delinquent activities and gangs that exist in the area

R. Merton

strain theory

strain between the accepted shared goals of society and the accepted means of achieving them

criticism of strain theory

ignores fact most wc youth resist this strain and are law-abiding

cloward and ohlin

illegitimate opportunity structure

those who can’t achieve through legitimate means can turn to an illegal career

criminal, conflict or retreatist subcultures

miller

focal concerns

said antisocial, deviant behaviour was just an exaggerated form of normal working class values

• trouble

• toughness

• smartness

• excitement

• fate

• autonomy

criticisms of subcultural theories

Matza

everyone has subterranean values, the working class just show them in a different way, aren’t controlled the same

postmodernist theorists

• katz

• lyng

• winlow and hall

katz

young males commit crime because it is thrilling

not because they have been rejected by society

lyng

edgework

young males engage in edgework. pushing limits of acceptable behaviour

winlow and hall

violent night

young males go out and fight to fill the void left by the decline of the traditional working class

tied to consumerism and individualism