Week 9 - Subcultural Theories

Subcultural Theory

Focuses on collective adaptations to Strain

• Crime/deviance - emerges in strain amongst a group for those denied achievement via legit means

Subculture provides:

• Opportunity

• Solutions

• Resistance/Rebellion

Context - Albert Cohen’s Subcultural Theory

Post-WW2 era was characterized by a rise in youth delinquency, street crimes, and juveniles

• Coming from a baby boom post ww2

• Why was crime prevalent among the youth of certain communities?

Explanation by Cohen:

Crime was a lower-class phenomenon, similar to Merton’s strain theory

Cohen’s theory explains non-utilitarian crime and deviance as a group response

• Why do young people hold beliefs in favor of delinquency?

Status Deprivation - Delinquent Boys by Albert Cohen (1955)

Strain results from frustration and status deprivation

• Youth inability to achieve a middle class status

• Strain striving from a status and respect rather than $$$

Lower-class families can’t socialize kids into higher-class mannerisms

• Expected by society to abide by middle-class standards, but they don’t know em

  • Due to a lack of schooling

How do Delinquent boys respond to Status Deprivation?

Reject Mainstream Values

• Develop opposing norms to achieve recognition

• Form delinquent subcultures to oppose status systems

They, however, still internalize mainstream norms

• Anxiety about going against common norms

Reaction Formation

Rejection of what was previously sought after with intensity

• Getting pissed and rejecting what they want deep down as a coping mechanism

Subcultures

Subgroups of society that promote norms that contradict mainstream values

Subcultural Values of Delinquents Include:

Spite, hostility, and contempt of outsiders

• “Premium” placed on behavior opposing the normis

Similar to Merton’s rebellion adaptation

Cliques of Subcultural Theory

Corner Boys:

• Hangs in neighborhoods

• Peer support, engages in group activities

• Will work a menial job and live ordinary lives

• Most lower class boys

College Boys:

• Strive to live in middle class standards

• Chances of success, but limited

• Rarest archetype

Delinquent Boys:

• Form subcultures to create attainable statuses

• Internalizes middle class norms, however

  • Due to Reaction Formation inverting mainstream values

• Some lower-class boys

Characteristics of Delinquent Gangs

Non-utilitarian actions

• Random, impuslive, hedonistic, pleasure seeking

• Take joy in breaking social norms

Group autonomy and loyalty - central

Contributions of Cohen

Cohen explains non-utilitrarian crime, Merton explains utilitarian

• Origins of irrational delinquent behavior

Status deprivation of lower class boys

• Evidence - school performance and delinquency is correlated

Cloward & Ohlin’s Subcultural Theory

Argues that there are different kinds of sbulcultures

• Different subcultures respond different to strain

Different subcultures tied to differences in neighborhoods

• Organized Slums

• Disorganized Slums

• Retreatist Gangs (Double Failures)

Organized Slums (Cloward & Ohlin)

Existing criminal culture/hierarchy exists

• Older offenders act as mentors to younger ones

Includes high levels of property crime, extortion, fraud/theft

• Crime is the main source of income

Disorganized Slums (Cloward & Ohlin)

More transience (people come and go) and instability = less opportuntiy for organized crime

• Less adult role models

• Less guidance and control - kids fight eachother

• Everyone does what they wanna do

Higher levels of violence (“conflict gangs”)

Retreatist Gangs - Both Disorganized and Organized (Cloward & Ohlin)

Members are “double failures”

• Failed in the legitimate and illegitimate world

• Relies on drugs as a means to their status problems

Conduct criminality not for status, but to retreat

Contributions of Cloward & Ohlin’s theory

Neighborhood structures/context emerge in the wake of delinquent subculture

• Illegitimate opportunity vs legit

Adult / Contemporary Subcultural Theory

Accounts for adult involvement in gangs in 1980s/90s America within poor African-American inner cities

• Specific Strains characterize communities