[1.2] Subcultural strain theories

Question 1

What do subcultural strain theories argue?

Answer 1

They argue that deviance is the product of a delinquent subculture with norms that are different from those of mainstream society.

Question 2

What do subcultures do?

Answer 2

Provide an alternative opportunity structure for those who are denied the chance to achieve by legitimate means.

Question 3

What does Cohen (1955) agree with Merton about?

Answer 3

He agrees that deviance is a largely lower class phenomenon, caused by their inability to achieve mainstream goals.

Question 4

On which grounds does Cohen (1955) criticise Merton?

Answer 4

Merton ignores the fact that most deviance is committed in groups and also ignores non-utilitarian crimes which have no economic motive.

Question 5

Who does Cohen focus on the deviance of?

Answer 5

Working class boys.

Question 6

What does Cohen argue that working class boys face in the school system?

Answer 6

Anomie, as the system is middle class dominated.

Question 7

What do working class children experience?

Answer 7

Material and cultural deprivation.

Question 8

What do working class boys suffer which causes them to join a delinquent subculture?

Answer 8

Status frustration.

Question 9

What are subculture values characterised by?

Answer 9

Spite, malice, hostility and contempt for those on the outside.

Question 10

What do delinquent subcultures do?

Answer 10

Invert the values of mainstream society, and praise the reversal of the values.

Question 11

What do subcultures offer?

Answer 11

An alternative status hierarchy, in which delinquents can achieve in.

Question 12

What do delinquents win from their peers through their delinquent behaviour?

Answer 12

Status.

Question 13

What is a strength of Cohen’s theory of status frustration?

Answer 13

It explains non-utilitarian crime such as vandalism.

Question 14

What does Cohen ignore?

Answer 14

The possibility that not everyone shares the same values at the outset.

Question 15

What did Cloward and Ohlin (1960) develop the concept of?

Answer 15

Three subcultures, which respond in different ways to the lack of legitimate opportunities.

Question 16

What do Cloward and Ohlin suggest is the reason for the different ways that different subcultures react?

Answer 16

The lack of access to legitimate opportunity, but also the lack of access to ILLEGITIMATE opportunities.

Question 17

What are the three subcultures that Cloward and Ohlin identified?

Answer 17

Criminal, conflict and retreatist.

Question 18

Describe criminal subcultures.

Answer 18

They provide youths with an apprenticeship for a career in utilitarian crime.

Question 19

Describe conflict subcultures.

Answer 19

They are found in areas with high population turnover, where the development of a stable criminal subculture is prevented.

Question 20

Describe retreatist subcultures.

Answer 20

This subculture consists of those who failed to make a success of themselves in criminal subcultures.

Question 21

Evaluate Cloward and Ohlin’s three subcultures.

Answer 21

• They ignore the crimes of the wealthy.
• They explain different types of working class deviance, something which others fail to do.
• South (1997) suggests they distinguish too sharply between the different subcultures, drug users are from a mix of conflict and criminal subcultures.
• This theory assumes everyone shares the same goals to begin with.

Question 22

What do recent strain theorists suggest?

Answer 22

They suggest that young people may pursue a variety of goals other than money and success, such as popularity and autonomy from parents.

Question 23

What does Messner and Rosenfeld’s (2001) institutional anomie theory focus on?

Answer 23

The American dream.

Question 24

What does the American dream’s obsession with success exert pressure on people to do?

Answer 24

It puts pressure on people to lean towards crime, where people adopt an ‘anything goes’ mentality in the pursuit of wealth.

Question 25

Which goals are viewed as above all others in America?

Answer 25

Economic goals.

Question 26

In which societies are high crime rates inevitable, according to Messner and Rosenfeld?

Answer 26

High crime is inevitable in societies based on free-market capitalism and lacking welfare provision.