SUBCULTURE STRAIN THEORIES

see deviance as product of delinquent subculture with different values from those of mainstream society
Subcultures provide alternative opportunity structure for those are denied legitimate means
Subcultures are a solution to a problem and therefore functional for their members, even if not for wider society
This theory criticises Merton

STATUS FRUSTRATION [MERTON]

Cohen agrees with merton that deviance is Lower-class phenomenon resulting from the inability to achieve mainstream succes goals through legitimate means

however Cohen criticises merton's explanation on 2 grounds:
- 1) merton sees deviance as an individual reposes to strain, ignoring the fact that much deviance is committed in groups especially among the young
- 2) merton focuses on utilitarian crime committed for material gain
- he ignored crimes such as assault and vandalism, which have no economic motive

Cohen focuses on deviance among w/c boys and argue they face an anomie in the m/c school system
- they suffer from cultural depravation and lack the sills to achieve
their inability to succeed in m/c world leaves them at the bottom of status hierarchy
- as a result bots suffer from status frustration and resolve their frustration byr rejecting mainstream middle class values and turn to other boys in the same situation, forming o r joining a delinquent subculture

THREE SUBCULTURES [CLOWARD AND OHLIN]

according to Cohen, the subcultures values are spite, malice, hostility for those outside it
it inverts the values of mainstream society
what society condemns, the subculture praises e.g truancy
the subculture offers boys an alternative status hierarchy in which they can achieve

ignores female delinquency
only focuses on youth crime
Cohen assumes that working class boys start off sharing middle-class success goals, only to reject these when they fail.
- He ignores the possibility that they didn’t share the goals in the first place and so never saw themselves as failures

Agree with merton that working class youth are denied legitimate opportunities to achieve ‘money success’
they note not everyone in this situation adapts to it by turning into innovation- different subcultures respond in different ways

they attempt to explain why different subcultural responses occur
in their view, the key reason is not only unequal access tt legitimate opportunity structure, but also unequal acces to illegitimate opportunity structure
e.g not everyone who fails by legitimate means, then has an equal chance of becoming a successful safecracker.
they argue different neighbourhood provide different illegitimate opportunities for young people to learn criminal skills and develop criminal careers

they identify 3 types of deviant subcultures that result:

1) CRIMINAL SUBCULTURES:
- provide youth with apprentaship for a career in utilitarian crime
- only arise in neighbourhoods with longstanding and stable criminal culture with establishes hierarchy of professional adult crime
- this allows young to associate with adult criminals who can select those with right aptitude and abilities, and provide them with training and role models as well as opportunities for employment on the criminal career ladder

2) CONFLICT SUBCULTURES:
arise in areas of high population turnover
- this results in high levels of social disorganisation and prevents stable professional criminal network developing
- its absence means that the only illegitimate opportunities are available within loosely organised gangs
- in these, violence provides a release for young mens frustration at their blocked oportunities, as well as an alternative source of status that they can earn by winning 'turf' from rival gangs
- this subculture is closest to that described by Cohen

3) RETREATEST SUBCULTURE:
- in any neighbourhood, not everyone who aspires to be a professional criminal actually succeeds
- just as in the legitimate opportunity structure, where no everyone gets a well paid job
- those who experience such doubt;e failiure mat turn to a retrearestsubculture based on illegal drug use

Ignore the crimes of the wealthy and overpredict the amount of working class crime
Matza 1964 claims that most delinquents are not strongly committed to their subculture, as strain theories suggest, but merely drift in and out of delinquency

RECENT STRAIN THEORIES

Argue that young people may pursue a variety of fgoals other than money success
- these include: popularity with peers, young males to be treated like 'real men' & autonomy from adults
they argue failiure to achieve these goals may result in delinquent

INSTITUTIONAL ANOMIE THEORY [MESSNER & RONSEFELD]

They argue that its obsession with money success and its ‘winner-takes-all’ mentally, that exerts pressures towards crime by encouraging an anomie cultural environment in which people are encouraged to adopt ‘anything goes’ mentality in pursuit of wealth.