Subcultural Theory Flashcards
What is subcultural?
A smaller group of people that have different norms and values to main culture
So many deviant or criminals
Merton strain theory?
Identify different routes people can take, all different norms and values to the rest of society
Conformist vs innovation, ritualist, retreatist and rebellions
Who are our 5 subcultural theory’s?
Cohen
Cloward and Ohlin
Miller
Matza
Messner and rosenfeild
Cohen what is lower class pheonomena?
Lower class to achieve mainstream success groups they legitimise means
Cohen what is legitimate illegitimate?
To obtain culturally approved goals and wealth
Cohen what’s utilitarian crime?
Crime committed for material gain e.g. theft
Cohen- what is cultural deprivation?
Where a persons has inferior norms values and knowledge
What is delinquent subculture?
Encourages and justifies behaviour defined as delinquents by larger societysb
Cohen- what is invert?
To gain respect from peers by doing the opposite to what you should do
Cohen- what’s status frustration?
Face anomie in the m/c dominated school system as they suffer from cultural deprivation and a lack of skills, as a result of being unable to achieve status by legitimate means and education
How to resolve status frustration cohen?
Resolve this by rejecting mainstream middle class values and they turn to other boys in the same situation froming and joining delinquent subcultures
What is the alternative status higherarchy cohen?
Offers the boys an alternative status higherarchy in which they can achieve
Failing the legitimate opportunity structure
Boys create own illegitimate opportunity structures in which they win status via peers from delinquent theory e.g. solving and fighting
Strength of cohen?
Offered explanation from non utilitarians deviance
Unlike Merton whose concept of innovation only accounts form utilitariansm
It helps explain non economic delinquency e.g. vandalism truancy
Weakness of cohen theory?
Assumes a/c boys share middle class success goals only when they reject these when they fail ignores the possibility that they didn’t share goals in first place so never saw themselves as failure
Cloward and Ohlin- illegitimate’s oppertunity structures?
Delinquents develops as young People aren’t able to achieve, valued goals through conventional means e.g. not everyone can be drug deals due to networks in place
What are the 3 deviants subcultures according to cloward and Ohlin?
Criminal conflict retreatisy
Criminal subculture cloward and Ohlin?
Provide youth with an apprenticeship for career in utilitarianism crime arising only neighbourhoods with long-standing stable criminals cultures with established hierarchy and professional adult crime young association with adult crime selective those with abilities regarding the training as well as employment and other crime ladders
Conflict subculture cloward and Ohlin?
High population turnovers so high disorganized prevent a stable, professional criminal network developing
Absence means only legitimation opportunities available with loose organised gangs provide release from men frustration at blocked opportunities and alternative source of status they can be winning turf from rival gangs
Retreatist subculture cloward and Ohlin?
Any Neighbourhood not a professional criminal organised gang leader succeed
just legitimate opportunity structures we’re not everyone gets a well pay job becomes a double failure those who fail and legitimate and illegitimate opportunity structures return to legal drug use 
Strengths of cloward and Ohlin?
Most crime is working class, ignoring crime of the wealthy
similarly that their theory over predict the amount of working glass crime
ignores the wider power structure, including those who may enforce the rules
Weekness of cloward and Ohlin?
Provide an explanation for different types of working class deviance in terms of different sub cultures
Reactive over predictive amount of wc crime
What are the 6 focal concerns of w/c miller?
Smartness
Trouble
Excitement
Toughness
Autonomy
Fate
Smartness focal concerns of w/c miller?
A person should both look good and also be whitty with sharp repartee
Trouble focal concerns of w/c miller?
I don’t go looking for trouble, but
Excitement focal concerns of w/c miller?
It is important to search out thrills
Excitement focal concerns of w/c miller?
It is important to search out thrills
Toughness focal concerns of w/c miller?
Being physically stronger than others is good it’s also important to be able to demonstrate this
Autonomy focal concerns of w/c miller?
It’s important not to be pushed around by others
Fate- focal concerns of w/c miller?
Individuals have a little chance to overcome the wider fate that awaits them
How do focal concerns create crime miller?
The young lower class males are pushed towards crime by the values of their subcultures
Evaluation of miller?
Vocal concern is based on behavior of males and is deterministic by nature
Marxists would suggest the working class values of subcultural only because of the ruling class controls of the institution
Positive – explained youth crimes
Maza subterranean values – suppressed?
Act of controlling or suppressing individuals
Matza, subterranean values- subterranean?
values behind deviant behavior
Matza subterranean – neutralize?
Individuals rationalize behavior that is considered criminal
Matza- what is drift?
We all share delinquent vales leading to deviance but most of the time people can supress these
This is a learned skill but we are more likely to commit crime when were young so it lessens as we age
People are neither conformist nor devient so people can drift between both throughout life
Matza- techniques of neutralisation?
If people really ad a different set of values when behaving deviently, they would believe their deviant behaviour was correct
But people quickly see ways to justify behaviour in terms of mainstream values
Matza- techniques of neutralisation examples?
Denial of responsibility- it wasn’t me
Denial of injury- it didn’t hurt
Denial of the victim- you deserved it
Condemnation of the condemners- your just as bad
Appeal to higher loyalty’s- i did it for my country
How does matzas theory differ from others?
We all share the delinquent values leading some people to criminal and deviant behaviour but most of us keep supressed
Eval of matza?
Techniques of neutralisation have the appearance of excuses and can be an attempt to avoid punishment
-Can be delinquent as a child but be respectable as adult
Messner and Rosenfield- institutional anomie theory, american dream?
Citizens in the USA should have equal means to success
Messner and Rosenfield- inculating?
to fix beliefs or ideas in someone’s mind, especially by repeating them often
Messner and Rosenfield- theory?
Obsession with money and success produces pressure towards crime as it produces an anything goes mentality in order for wealth
Messner and Rosenfield- how do downey and hansey agree?
In 18 country’s they found societies that spent more on welfare had lower rates of imprisonment
Backing up that society’s that protect the poor from the worse exercise the free market have less crime
Messner and Rosenfield- how does this back up marxists?
Crime and violences as a result of control caused by imbalance of values favoring economy
Proletariat are exposed to crime due to imbalance
Eval- gender?
Very little research carried out on female gang activity with the assumption that women don’t join gangs
Eval- gender thrasher?
Only 6 female gangs ‘auxiliary in nature’ have limited role in the gang and exist to serve the male gang members
Eval- gender Hunt?
Interviewed 141 female gang members from SFUS although committed crime, they conformed to traditional gender roles
Eval- social class Korem?
Conducted research on m/c gang over 7yrs in the UK and US, m/c boys are forming gangs in increasing numbers
Key reasoning could be due to family problems e.g. divorce gangs becomes a suffer of the family, better predictors then income
Eval- masculinity Collinson?
In order to explain male offending behaviour, important to explain in nature of being male in society linking masculinity
Eval- masculinity Connell?
Hegemonic masculinity which males both conspire with aspire to
Eval- masculinity Winlow?
Traditional w/c more values have little physical work undertaken by men in industrial settings
These have now gone and values are inappropriate in contemporary excluded
Issue is that men are no excluded by employment
Eval- postmodernism?
Pm, rejects the idea that to explain deviant behaviour by looking for rational reason why the subculture must have developed
Eval- pm Katz?
Crimes seductive
Young males get drawn to it not because of rejection but due to thrill
Eval- pm Lyng?
young males like taking risk and engage in edgework (flirting with danger)
