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Subcultural theories of crime - Coggle Diagram
Subcultural theories of crime
Cohen - Status frustration
Status frustration - feeling of frustration by individuals when they are denied opportunity to attain status
Subcultures are likely to form in urban areas that are densely populated with high rates of unemployment
W/C join gangs due to lack of skills from parents, leading to underachievement (cultural deprivation)
Status through education is approved, but W/C are likely to be put in low streams to to underachievement, so denied of status
Thus, crime is inevitable
Analysis (AO3)
NSPCC 2009
Relevant to contemporary society
Gangs form from individuals wanting status and power, protection, peer pressure, money, etc.
63% of children in teenage gangs have committed at least one 'core offence' compared to 26% of non gang members
Evaluation (AO3)
Willis
Boys rejected school and didn't share mainstream goals
They wanted factory work
Didn't show status frustration
Cohen
Conformity is the norm, even for W/C boys in school and society who leave without qualifications
Marxists argue that Cohen needs to ask why conformity is a norm and not delinquency
Overpredicted delinquency
Feminists
Ignores W/C girls committing crimes
Assumes delinquency is a male only problem
Matza (interpretivist)
Subculture theory overpredicts delinquency
Young W/C people are not all delinquent - only the minority
Cohen is right with the frustration but doesn't mean that they will become delinquent
Cloward and Ohlin
Argue that Cohen's theory doesn't allow for the diversity of responses found amongst W/C youth who find the approved means for achieving society's goals blocked
Suggest that the varied social circumstances in which W/C youth live gives an unequal access to illegitimate opportunities
Eg. not all failures in society can become a skilled robber
People have access to different deviant subcultures based on the area they live in
Retreatist subculture
Failed to join other subcultures (double failure)
Couldn't do well in education
Retreat to drugs / alcohol
Commit minor crimes to afford this
Conflict subculture
Characterised by masculinity
Lack of organised crime hierarchies
Turn to conflict crimes instead
Respect for violence, increasing status
Criminal subculture
Characterised by useful crime such as theft
Some areas have more opportunity for illegitimate crime
Eg. organised crime with hierarchies (mafia)
Evaluation (AO3)
Unlike Cohen, they recognised that not all crimes are violent
Miller agrees that deviance is widespread in the lower class - attempt to achieve their own goals, not mainstream
Female deviance is ignored
Boundaries between subcultures are unclear - drug is a mixed of disorganised crime and professional crime
Miller - Focal concerns
Explains crime and deviance in terms of a distinctive W/C subculture which he suggests has existed for centuries
Mainly relates to males, revolving around central characteristics (focal concerns)
According to Miller, W/C boys join subcultures
Smartness - looking sharp, being streetwise
Excitement - looking for fun / adrenaline
Masculinity - being tough, able to fight, womanising
Fatalism - acceptance of what can be done with their lives
Acceptance - violence is a part of life and you need to defend yourself
Autonomy - no one can push them around or be challenged by others
Analysis (AO3)
London riots show autonomy
Roadmen show smartness - clothing / shoes
Evaluation (AO3)
May not be a W/C issue - can be applied to other classes
Only applies to male criminality and deviance
Evaluation (AO3)
Matza criticises subcultural theories
There is some similarity between the values held by delinquents and those of mainstream society - outraged by crime
When they're caught, they feel remorse, guilt, and shame, which are techniques of neutralisation
Justifiable / temporary lapse of conformity
No desire to be delinquent, but they drift in and out