Subcultural Theory: Intercationism Flashcards
What are subcultures?
Groups within society with their own set of norms and values.
What do subcultural theorists explore?
The reasons for the existence of criminal and deviant subcultures.
Who are the theorists associated with blocked opportunities and status frustration?
Coward and Ohlin (Blocked Opportunities), Cohen (Status frustration), Miller (Focal Concerns).
What is status frustration according to Cohen?
Gangs which state frustrated individuals join create an illegitimate state hierarchy to crime.
What determines status in society?
Multiple factors, such as social class, ethnicity, gender, and occupation.
What is the impact of status on individuals?
Some members of society face discrimination and deprivation due to their status.
What is the case study that supports status frustration?
Alfie’s Story.
What was Alfie’s background?
He was from a deprived environment and likely neglected due to his mother’s alcoholism.
How does Alfie’s story illustrate status frustration?
Working class children may feel frustrated by symbolic violence, leading to gang activity as a solution.
What did Alfie gain from joining a gang?
A sense of family and belonging, as well as the ability to make money to alleviate deprivation.
What does Alfie’s experience demonstrate about status frustration?
It can lead to criminal behavior as individuals seek to improve their status.
What is the alternative status hierarchy?
An alternate status hierarchy awards higher status for deviant activities than for conforming behaviors.
What types of crime did Cohen focus on?
Cohen focused on non-utilitarian crimes, which have little or no financial motive, such as criminal damage, graffiti, joy-riding, violence, and antisocial behavior.
What does Cohen argue is the reaction to blocked opportunities?
Cohen argued that behaviors are a result of seeking revenge against society.
How can the concept of status frustration be applied today?
It can explain the high percentage of excluded pupils who go on to commit crime.
Who is most likely to commit crime according to Cohen’s findings?
Crime rates are higher among young males who are most likely to be low achievers in education.
What are some crime prevention policies that address status in young males?
Examples include boxing clubs.
What assumption does Cohen make about people’s desire to conform?
Cohen assumes that people want to conform to society’s norms and values, and that being unable to do so leads to a reaction.
What does Matza suggest about young people’s behavior?
Matza suggests that most young people drift in and out of deviant behaviors as they are unable to control subterranean values.
What limitation does Cohen’s explanation of crime have?
Cohen explains petty crime but fails to explore opportunities for further criminality based on location.
What did Cohen argue about working-class boys and school?
Cohen argued that working-class boys often failed at school resulting in a low status.
What is a response to the failure of working-class boys in school?
The formation of pupil anti school subcultures.
What happens to pupil anti school subcultures after leaving school?
They transcarcerate into criminal subcultures such as gangs.
Why do individuals in these gangs often lack employment?
They have no qualifications or have been excluded from education.
How do the values of gangs compare to mainstream values?
Gangs have values that are largely the reverse of mainstream values.
What is considered taboo in mainstream society?
What is deemed taboo or deviant in mainstream society is praiseworthy and good in the subculture.
What does Cohen’s theory explain?
Cohen’s theory sought to explain delinquency among particular groups in society (young, working-class males) and non-utilitarian crimes.
What types of crimes can be explained by subcultures inverting mainstream values?
Crimes like vandalism or fighting.
What do blocked opportunities prevent individuals from achieving?
Blocked opportunities prevent individuals from being able to progress in life, obtain a career or meet their basic needs.
What factors contribute to blocked opportunities?
Institutions such as education and the workplace discriminate, and location may have differing opportunities available.
What are criminal subcultures?
Criminal subcultures are based in areas with an existing structure of criminal behavior, primarily involving utilitarian crimes. Young men are apprenticed into crime through low-level positions.
How do individuals progress in criminal subcultures?
Individuals who display the right attitudes and aptitudes are progressed through the organizations, serving as an alternative to a legitimate career path.
What are conflict subcultures?
Conflict subcultures are most likely to develop in areas of transition with lower social organization and cohesion, leading to rival gangs generating conflict with one another.
What motivates conflict in conflict subcultures?
Frustration at being unable to succeed is displaced onto ‘others’, those who are not members of the group, with status awarded for violent and criminal acts towards members of other groups.
What are retreatist subcultures?
Retreatist subcultures involve a retreat from social integration, similar to Merton’s ‘retreatists’, resulting from not fitting into social norms or lacking access to other forms of status.
What behaviors are common in retreatist subcultures?
Substance abuse and petty crimes are common as means to escape rejection from society, with limited opportunities for status.
What are contemporary examples of criminal subcultures?
Contemporary examples include gang culture in low-income areas of UK cities and towns, and American gangland violence from the 1950s onwards.
What did Winlow (2001) investigate?
Winlow investigated disorganized structures and the connections between de-industrialization and violence in Sunderland.
What is a key evaluation of conflict and criminal subcultures?
Definitions of conflict and criminal subcultures can become blurred in modern society, assuming that people initially subscribe to societal norms and values.
What does Matza’s examination reveal about young males?
Matza examines the idea that young males will drift in and out of delinquency (subcultures) during the phase of young adulthood.
What is the purpose of deviant subcultures?
Deviant subcultures exist to give members of society who lack status or opportunities a sense of community and belonging.
What do Furries provide to their members?
Furries provide members with a safe community, an ability to socialise with those who have a common interest and a common dress code (an animal suit).
How do Goths provide identity to their members?
Goths provide their members with an identity through dress code, choice of music, and a fascination with death/darkness.
What characterizes football hooligans as a deviant subculture?
Football hooligans are a close-knit group that creates a sense of belonging, commitment, and attachment.
What activities do football hooligans engage in?
They commit time to go to away and home games and learn the lyrics to the different chants for their team.
Who typically joins deviant subcultures according to Miller?
Miller suggests deviant subcultures are typically associated with and joined by working class men.
What do working class men seek through deviant subcultures?
They seek to achieve the norms and values associated with trouble and toughness.
What behaviors demonstrate trouble among football hooligans?
Trouble is demonstrated by acts such as day drinking, littering, streaking, and setting off fireworks/smoke bombs.
How do football hooligans demonstrate toughness?
Toughness is demonstrated through shouting, chanting, hand gestures, and swearing.
What limitation do Cloward and Ohlin’s theories have?
They do not explain female criminality and focus only on males joining gangs, limiting their explanation.
What other factors contribute to gang membership?
Factors such as grooming, peer pressure, and family structures can also cause gang membership.
What do some middle-class boys do despite having no blocked opportunities?
Some middle-class boys still decide to get involved with deviant groups such as gangs, enabling them to commit illegal acts.
What are the six focal concerns of working-class males identified by Miller?
1) Excitement
2) Toughness
3) Smartness
4) Trouble
5) Autonomy
6) Fate
How does excitement manifest in the behavior of working-class males?
Working-class males crave excitement in their leisure time, demonstrated through drinking alcohol, recreational drug usage, sexual encounters, and fighting.
Evidence: behavior in city centres and local communities of an evening.
What does toughness signify for working-class males?
Toughness is associated with status awarded for displaying masculine characteristics such as strength or the ability to beat an opponent in a fight.
This leads to criminal acts such as assault and bodily harm.
What is the significance of smartness for working-class males?
Smartness refers to the ability to outwit others through gambling and gaming, including lower-level fraud and ‘con’ tricks.
This is evidenced through humor or verbal responses, as well as sports betting, gambling machines, and casinos.
What is the impact of anti-authority views on working-class males?
They tend to deal with issues themselves rather than alerting authorities.
How do working-class males typically respond to being ‘wronged’?
Retribution is dealt with by individuals rather than the police.
What is a common behavior regarding crime reporting in working-class areas?
There are lower levels of reporting incidents and reluctance to inform on others.
What attitude do working-class males have towards fate?
They often have fatalistic attitudes, believing they have little agency in life.
How does fatalism affect the behavior of working-class males?
Their actions today are not moderated by future consequences, as they believe outcomes are already decided.
How is fatalism evidenced in education among working-class males?
It is linked to Willis’s learning to labour and attitudes towards university as discussed by Archer.
What are Miller’s focal concerns in relation to working-class males?
They are based on male behavior and are deterministic in nature.
Influenced ideas of an ‘underclass’ developed by Charles Murray and the New Right.
What do Marxists suggest about the assumption of working-class values as subcultural?
They argue this assumption arises from ruling-class control of social institutions.
