subcultural theories

what are they?

cohen

cloward and ohlin

miller

assumes that those who deviate have different values than mainstream societies

exist to criticise Merton's strain theory as he cannot explain non material crime

all these theories are centred around ideas that crime and deviance is a reaction by a group that reject majority and/ or feel excluded

disagree that w/c share shame values/ goals as rest of society , w/c share own values

blocked opportunities means they cannot achieve things legitimately

attempt to explain w/c crime using goals and means

thus they develop a ''illegitimate career structure''

faced with failure so they choose a delinquent subculture

find new status through labels that are delinquent but high in status e.g. class clown, good at fighting

youths rebound from conventional failure e.g. schooling

'status frustration'

focal concerns could be: toughness, smartness, fatalism or excitement

they are usually deviant values

w/c individuals socialised into diff focal concerns that shape their behaviour

eval: miller

many m/c adopt focal concerns- excitement and recreational drugs

not all w/c adopt focal concerns- not an universal theory that is applicable to everyone

ignores females

eval: C+O

women have more blocked opps than men

fails to consider white collar crime

not everyone gets sucked into 'illegitimate career structure'

eval: cohen

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