Crime and Deviance- Subcultural theories of crime

Define Subculture and Deliquency

• Subculture: a group within mainstream society who share distinctive norms and values which differ from those of mainstream society. 

• Delinquency: criminal and antisocial acts of young people.

What is Cohen’s Theory called?

Status Frustration

What is Cohen’s theory about?

Cohen develops Merton's theory by including non-utilitarian crime. Deviant action is a collective phenomenon. Working class boys face anomie in the middle class education system and, as a result, suffer status frustration. To resolve this, they replace the dominant cultural goals by getting involved in delinquent activities and invert mainstream values so that they can gain status in a different way.

Criticisms of Cohen

• Postmodernist sociologists like Lyng and Katz argue that it is more likely the individual is influenced by boredom or is seeking a "buzz". 

• Cohen specifically says that this is a phenomenon relating to "working-class boys" and yet makes very few links between his theory and either social class or gender. Why do working-class boys particularly struggle to attain status at school or in mainstream society? Other sociologists, like Paul Willis, attempt to address that question, but Cohen does not. 

• Furthermore, why boys? Indeed, if the reason for deviance is frustration at low status, many feminists would suggest that, in 1950’s America, you would expect girls to be the ones forming the deviant subcultures

• A point in Cohen's favour is that he does successfully develop Merton's strain theory to provide an explanation for non-utilitarian crimes.

Cohen over predicts the amount of working class crime.
He assumes that everyone starts off sharing the same societal goals.

Similarities between Merton and Cohen

Similar to Merton because they both discuss how the status of an individual can create frustration. Cohen agrees with Merton that deviance is largely a lower-class phenomenon. It results from the inability of those in the lower classes to achieve mainstream success goals by legitimate means such as educational achievement.

Differences between Merton and Cohen

Different from Merton because Cohen specifically says that this is a phenomenon relating to "working-class boys" and yet makes very few links between his theory and either social class or gender. Why do working-class boys particularly struggle to attain status at school or in mainstream society? Other sociologists, like Paul Willis, attempt to address that question, but Cohen does not. 

What is Cloward and Ohlin’s Theory called?

Illegitimate Opportunity Structure

What is Cloward and Ohlin’s Theory about?

• Cloward and Ohlin sought to combine the theories of Merton and Cohen to explain the different kinds of criminal subcultures they identified in contemporary America.

• Echoing Merton, they argued that there was a "legitimate opportunity structure" (what Merton had meant by the socially-acceptable means to achieving social goals). For example, educational qualifications etc. Ways in which people can grow and develop professionally.  

• However, Cloward and Ohlin also identified an alternative "illegitimate opportunity structure" - developing other ways in which individuals can achieve and grow criminally or deviantly. 

• Merton did not provide enough detail on the ways in which people can become criminals. Cloward and Ohlin do… There are three ways, three different criminal subcultures that can emerge due to strain. Criminal, Conflict, Retreatist

Evaluate the theory

• Although Cloward and Ohlin’s three forms of subculture appear distinct, most criminal gangs would have elements of two or more of these subcultures. Drug use, for example, often plays a part in criminal gangs, while the sorts of "turf wars" carried out by "conflict subcultures" is often linked to organised crime, for instance drug dealing, rather than only being about conflict for its own sake. Thus, it is not clear that they have identified three distinct subcultures.

• As with other functionalist subcultural theories, Cloward and Ohlin write about working-class crime and predominantly about males, yet do not tackle broader issues relating to social class or gender.

• They ignore crimes of the wealthy.

• They over-simplify the boundaries between different types of subcultures (some show more than one type).

• They assume that everyone starts sharing the same societal goals.

What are similarities between Cloward and Ohlin’s theory and the others?

Similar to Merton because the theory is Echoing Merton, they argued that there was a "legitimate opportunity structure" (what Merton had meant by the socially-acceptable means to achieving social goals). For example, educational qualifications etc. Ways in which people can grow and develop professionally.  

• Both Cloward and Ohlin’s Differential Opportunity Theory and Merton’s Strain Theory address the societal pressure to achieve cultural goals.

• Both theories consider the concept of strain or frustration when legitimate means are insufficient to achieve these goals.

• Both Cloward and Ohlin’s theory and Cohen’s Subcultural Theory recognize the formation of subcultures in response to societal pressures and the experience of strain or frustration.

• Both theories acknowledge that individuals may turn to deviant behavior when they cannot achieve societal goals through legitimate means.

What are differences between Cloward and Ohlin’s theory and the others?

Similarities

• Merton: Focuses on the disjunction between cultural goals (such as wealth and success) and the availability of legitimate means (such as education and employment), leading to different modes of individual adaptation: conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion.

• Cloward and Ohlin: Emphasize differential access to illegitimate means, arguing that not everyone has the same opportunities for engaging in criminal activities. They identify specific types of deviant subcultures (criminal, conflict, retreatist) based on the type of illegitimate opportunities available.

Differences

• Cohen: Focuses on status frustration among lower-class boys who fail to meet middle-class standards, leading to the creation of subcultures that invert mainstream values (such as valuing delinquency and defiance). This is seen as a collective response to shared frustration.

• Cloward and Ohlin: Differentiate subcultures based on the types of opportunities available:

• Criminal Subcultures: Emerge in stable neighborhoods with established criminal networks.

• Conflict Subcultures: Develop in disorganized areas with weak social controls, leading to gang violence.

• Retreatist Subcultures: Form when individuals fail in both legitimate and illegitimate means, often turning to drug use and other retreatist behaviors.

• Cloward and Ohlin focus more on the structured opportunities and the specific types of deviant behavior resulting from different types of access to illegitimate means.

What is Miller (1960) Theory called?

Focal Concerns – Working Class subculture

What is Miller (1960) theory about?

• Miller argues that the lower class has its own independent subculture separate from mainstream culture, with its own values.  This subculture does not value success in the first place, so its members are not frustrated by failure.

• Miller suggested that there is a distinctive lower class subculture which is passed on from generation to generation. It arose partly from the experience of low skilled labour which involved boring, repetitive, dead end jobs, interspersed with periods of unemployment. Lower class subculture provides ways of living with this situation and of finding satisfaction outside of work.

• None of these values on their own mean that crime is inevitable (many "lower-class boys" are also socialised with these focal concerns and stay out of trouble) but they do make crime more likely. 

  • Seeking excitement might lead to non-utilitarian crime; toughness, smartness and trouble might result in fighting. 

  • Autonomy might lead people to take matters into their own hands rather than asking for help; 

  • fatalism might mean that they do not consider the consequences of their actions as the future is already written.

Criticisms of Miller’s Theory

He ignores the role of females.
Miller fails to consider that many middle class individuals adopt these 'working class focal concerns' whilst many working class individuals choose not to adopt these focal concerns.

What are similarities between Miller’s theory and the others?

What are difference between Miller’s theory and the others?