Subcultural theory Flashcards
what did Cohen agree with Merton about?
They agreed on the idea that - crime is a mainly lower class phenomenon - Results from the inability o achieve mainstream success goals by legitimate means
What did Cohen point out that Merton failed to explain?
- Merton failed to explain non utilitarian crime
- How crime can and is committed by groups rather then just a single response from one person.
define status frustration
A feeling of frustration experienced by people when they are denied the ability to move up in status.
what did Cloward and Ohlin develop about Cohen’s point.
The idea that the varied social circumstances in which working class youth are raised around will make the crime they do differ.
what are the three resulting subcultures that Cloward and Ohlin discovered?
these are
- criminal subculture
- conflict subculture
- retreatist subculture
what is a criminal subculture?
a criminal subculture occurs when
- there is a stable and established crime pattern
-There is likely a hierarchy to crime and the criminals within
- young people would of been raised around crime and offers almost an apprenticeship for crime
A career in crime is offered.
What is a conflict subculture?
These occur when
- an area has a high population turnover
- there is no specific hierarchy in crime and no long standing presence.
what sort of crime is common in a conflict subculture?
These are defined by crime like mugging, gang war and other violent crime. as it is a way for young people to voice there own frustration.
what is retreatism subculture?
This occurs when
- people are double failures ie both in the criminal world of the real world
- This response is to retreat into drug addiction and alcoholism
- leading to more petty crime like theft and prostitution.
what are some evaluations of subculture theory.
Some evaluations include
- being too deterministic
- it doesn’t explain other non utilitarian crime
- There is likely to be overlap with some of these subcultures.
