Subcultural explanations of criminality

Status frustration

• Cohen

• delinquency is a collective response to status frustration

• provides individuals with an alternative set of values to measure their behaviour and seek status

• provides an opportunity to egt back at society as a form of revenge

Criticisms of Cohen

• Neglects to look at women in his research

• Questionable if the lower class actually understand what middle class values + aspirations are

Cloward & Ohlin

legitimate + illegitimate opportunity structures. Illegitimate includes:

• criminal subculture

• Conflict subculture

• Retreatist subculture

Criminal subculture

• Cloward and Ohlin

• organised criminal subcultures in working class communities provided role models for young people.

• follows a deviant career structure that is mostly done for money

Conflict subculture

• Cloward and Ohlin

• Limited access to criminal or legitimate subculture leads to frustration

• individuals turn to violence e.g. gang warfare in slums

Retreatist subculture

• Cloward and Ohlin

• No access to crime or violence - retreat to drugs/alcohol

• funded through petty theft, shoplifting or prostitution

Criticisms of Cloward and Ohlin

• Assumes common goals are based on material + financial success

• Ignores women subcultural approaches

• Many lower class males conform

Miller’s focal concerns

• Fate

• Autonomy

• Toughness

• Excitement

• Smartness

• Trouble

Fate

• Miller

• Little can be done to change their lives - so it is as good as it will get

Autonomy

• Miller

• Not pushed around by anyone - resent police + authority

Toughness

• Miller

• Men should be ‘men’ + should act accordingly

Excitement

• Miller

• Search for thrills/pleasure

Smartness

• Miller

• Need to look good + be smart + streetwise

Toruble

• Miller

• Violence is an accepted way of life + they will not run from fights

hegemony

• marxist subculture theory

• Imposition of ruling class values on society

Youth

• marxist subculture theory

• majority of older people have financial commitments so they are scare to revolt as they have too much to lsoe.

• the youth do not have these so are the weakest within hegemony

skinhead culture

• Cohen

• represented the working class community that was passing away

Criticisms of the marxist subculture theory

• Involves and idealistic view of anti-social behaviour

• Are the values of working class youth subcultures any different to mainstream working class subcultures?

Drift Theory

• Matza

• to demonstrate control on their lives, they will commit a deviant act

• deviant careers are not set in place to they can drift in and out of crime when opportunities emerge

Labelling Theory

• Becker

• Deviance is socially constructed.

• He did a study on a group of marijuana users and found that they were excluded from society due to the label attached to them by moral entrepreneurs