Walter Miller - focal concerns

What values did Miller suggest working-class boys were socialised by and what were they called?

Excitement - seek out excitement.

Toughness - prove they tough/‘hard’

Smartness - use wit ‘smart’ remarks.

Trouble - linked to excitement and toughness.

Autonomy - want to be independent not relying on others.

Fate - future already decided what they do won’t impact it.

FOCAL CONCERNS

How do these concerns make crime more likely?

Seeking excitement can lead to non-utilitarian crime. Toughness, smartness and trouble can cause fighting. Autonomy lead them to take matters into their own hands. Fatalism means they may not consider or care about the consequences.

What dose Miller not make clear?

What he classed as the ‘lower class’ having such distinct different norms and values

What do feminists point out?

That the concerns may be masculine values rather than lower class ones.

What does Matza suggest?

That many of the focal ‘concerns’ are also feature of working-class girls therefore general features of youth.

We all share deviant values we just learn not to act on them.