Albert Cohen
(1895-1981) He was 86 at the time of his death.
was a student of Merton, (Strain Theory) and Sutherland, (Differential Association Theory)
Cohen combined and expanded these two theories to explain:
How delinquent subcultures emerge (Strain)
Where it’s found within a social structure (lower-middle-upper classes) (Social Disorganization)
Why they have specific characteristics that they do (Differential Association)
believed that delinquent subcultures are rooted in these areas:
Class differentials (Lower, Middle, Upper classes) in:
Parental aspirations (parents hope for their children’s success)
Child rearing practices (how parents raise their children, what to believe, how to behave, etc.)
Parents considered in a lower-class either:
Don’t know how to discipline with positive reinforcement
Can’t show them the importance of an education, work, etc. be a good role model
Won’t (because they may not see the importance of an education, work, etc.)
Classroom standards (are there different expectations or the same for the class differentials?)
believed the position of child’s family in the social structure… determines the problems the child will have to face throughout life.
Lower class kids are not exposed to middle class customs, habits, or life-style so they cannot adequately prepare for entering a middle-class world.
Children in a lower-class tend to:
Grow up with poor communication skills
May have poor communication between parents/siblings
May have a lack of commitment to education and do not understand the importance of it
May have difficulties reading and writing
May not learn how to delay immediate gratification very well
May lack respect for others property
Middle-Class Measuring Rod
In school, lower-class children are evaluated by middle-class teachers based on a middle-class measuring rod, measured by middle class values (good manners, respect for property, long range goal planning, self-reliance/independence)
and by these measures, lower-class children fall short.
Corner, College, & Delinquent Boys
Cohen believes lower-class children who begin to feel pressure (strain) and then begin to experience status (rank, position, etc.) frustration, respond by adopting one of these three roles:
Corner Boys:
Hang out in the neighborhood with their peers
Spending the day in some group activity, such as gambling or an athletic competition
Try to make the best of a bad situation
Eventually they get an unskilled job and live a standard lifestyle
Most lower-class boys become corner boys
College Boys:
Continually strive to live up to middle-class standards, but their chances for success are limited because of academic and social handicaps or hardships.
There are very few college boys that make it from the lower class.
Delinquent Boys: (Rebellion)
Band together to form a subculture to which they can define status (rank, importance, toughness, position, etc.)
To deal with conflict and relieve the stress, they resort to “Reaction Formation”, a way that relieves stress, anxiety, or pressures through a process of negative, delinquent and/or illegal behavior (crimes, gangs)
Impulsive, idea makers, and rule breakers
Going against the norms of society b/c they are frustrated (want something, don’t know how to achieve it)
Making behavior right in their subculture only because it is wrong by the norms of the larger culture (rebels, angry youth)
Think of juvenile delinquents/gang affiliated youth
Evaluation: Cohen’s Theory
Cohen’s theory answers several questions left unresolved by the ‘Strain’ and ‘Cultural Deviance’ theories.
Where delinquent behavior starts…
Why some youth are raised in the same neighborhoods, and attend the same schools and DO NOT become criminal… (Maybe the ‘Aging-out Phenomenon’?)
His theory does not explain why most delinquents eventually become law-abiding, even though their position in the class structure (the lower class) remains relatively fixed.
AND…
Some argue that this theory does not explain the growing number of middle-class gangs.