Miller's Focal Concerns

Question 1

overview

Answer 1

Miller (1963) developed a rather different approach to Cloward & Ohlin when he suggested that deviancy was linked to the culture of lower class males. Miller suggested that working class males have six ‘focal concerns’, which are likely to lead to delinquency.

Question 2

6 focal concerns

Answer 2

Smartness 
Toughness demonstrate this toughness 
Trouble
Autonomy 
Fate 
Excitement

Question 3

Overall

Answer 3

He therefore usefully attempts to deal with the problem that Cohen and Cloward & Ohlin have when they assume that everyone starts off sharing the same mainstream success goals.

Miller argues that those most likely to commit deviant &/or criminal acts are young working-class males and that they are more likely to do so because they are pushed towards crime by the implicit (inbuilt) values of their subculture.

Question 4

Evaluation

Answer 4

✓ Usefully attempts to answer the issue of whether everyone starts off sharing the same mainstream success goals (e.g. does everyone care about succeeding in education?). This then helps to build on the work of Cohen and Cloward & Ohlin.

However, Miller provides little evidence to show that these are specifically lower class values. Box pointed out that they could equally apply to males right across the class structure – e.g. many male university students also want to appear ‘tough’, etc.

It is too deterministic - not all lower working-class males adopt his ‘focal concerns’. Most working class men do not deviate and are family orientated, etc.