Walter Miller

What is Miller’s focal concerns?

• In contrast to both Cohen and Cloward and Ohlin, Miller suggests that the subcultural norms and values of the working class are not a reaction to blocked opportunities

• Working-class has developed an independent set of norms and values for mainstream society through which they gain status

• This status is based upon satisfying the ‘focal concerns’ of typically working-class males

What are Miller’s focal concerns?

1. Excitement

2. Toughness

3. Smartness

4. Trouble

5. Autonomy

6. Fate

What did the focal concerns lead to?

They led the working class to deviate as they contrasted with the norms and values of mainstream society

What is Excitement?

• According to Miller, working-class males are seen to crave excitement in their leisure time

• This was demonstrated through drinking alcohol and recreational drug usage, sexual encounters and fighting

• Evidence: Behaviour in city centres and local communities

What is Toughness?

• It is associated with the working class as status is awkward for displaying masculine characteristics such as strength or the ability to beat an opponent in a fight

• This led to criminal acts such as assault and bodily harm due to the need to ‘not back down’ in conflict situations

• Evidence through higher levels of conviction for working-class males for violent crimes

What is Smartness?

• It refers to the ability to outwit others- through gambling and gaming

• Lower-level fraud and ‘con’ tricks allow working-class males to assert their smartness over unwitting victims

• This is evidenced through humour or verbal responses as well

• Participation in sports betting, gambling machines and casinos

What is Trouble?

• Working-class individuals were always aware that their values might lead them into trouble and were unlikely to back down from it

• Linked to subcultural values of fatalism and collectivism, working-class males accepted that they needed to support their friends and family in times of conflict

• Linked to subcultural behaviours in schools, with collectivism evident in anti-school subcultures

What is Autonomy?

• Anti-authority views of working-class males led to them dealing with issues themselves rather than alerting authorities

• Retribution for being ‘wronged’ was dealt with by individuals rather than the police

• Lower levels of reporting incidents in working-class areas and reluctance to inform others who have committed crime

What is Fate?

• Working-class males have fatalistic attitudes which lead them to believe that they have little agency in life

• The behaviour of working-class males is not moderated by what may happen in the future- actions today do not impact the future as it is already decided

• Evidenced in education- links to Willis’s learning to labour- and fatalistic attitudes towards university- Archer, Reay

What are the evaluations of Miller’s focal concerns?

• Influenced ideas of an ‘underclass’ that were developed by Charles Murray and the New Right

• The assumption that working-class values are subcultural- Marxists would suggest this is only the case because of ruling-class control of social institutions

• Focal concerns are based on the behaviour of males and are deterministic in nature