C&D 3: Albert Cohen

Question 1

D: What type of sociologist was AC?

E: Who were the focus of his study?

C: What kind of theory is this?

Answer 1

D: A functionalist

E: Delinquent (criminal/ deviant) boys- who were working class.

C: A subcultural explanation of crime.

Question 2

D: What kind of frustration did the boys feel in school?

E: Why did they feel this way?

C: How can we criticise this?

Answer 2

D: ‘Status frustration’

E: They couldn’t live up to the middle class expectations of the school. If they tried hard, they were still ‘failing’ to meet middle class standards of success.

C: This assumes that the working class boys were brought up with and agreed with middle class values before attending school.

Question 3

D: What did the boys create in order to deal with their status frustration?

E: How did this help them to feel better?

C: What does ‘inverting’ middle class values mean?

Answer 3

D: A deviant subculture

E: They gained status from each other. They praised each other when they did something deviant.

C: They turned the values upside down. Eg middle class values promote being polite to teachers, so the boys would be rude.

Question 4

D: What kinds of deviant acts did the boys commit?

E: What was the focus of their acts?

C: Name the 3 categories of deviant acts they committed.

Answer 4

D: Petty/ malicious.

E: They didn’t want to make money with their crimes (non-utilitarian) they wanted attention and praise from their peers.

C: Non- utilitarian, malicious, negativistic

Question 5

D: Name 1 criticism of Cohen’s study.

D: Name 2 criticisms of AC’s study

D: Name 3 criticisms of AC’s study

Answer 5

Criticisms:
It is out of date- published in 1955.
It ignores girls.
It is focused on a small group- unrepresentative.
It assumes that the boys had middle class values that they only rejected once they were in school. This is unlikely, as they were brought up in working class families.