Theoretical explanations for youth deviance Flashcards
What does Merton say about youth deviance?
FUNCTIONALISM
- Individuals may experience a strain between society’s goals/values and what they are able to achieve , which may lead to deviance
What do A. Cohen, Cloward and Ohlin say about youth deviance?
FUNCTIONALISM
- Within a subculture, the deviant means of achieving society’s goals often become the accepted means
- Cohen argues teenage boys desire status. W/C boys are aware of mainstream values but recognises himself as inferior to middle class boys who can achieve these values. Creates feelings of ‘status frustration’. Delinquent subcultures form as a response to status frustration
- Cloward and Ohlin see deviance as a reaction to problems in achieving mainstream values. Unable to achieve goals through legitimate means so uses illegitimate means to attain them, Some experience ‘blocked opportunities’ to attain valued goals legitimately so turn to illegitimate means
What were the 3 types of deviant subculture developed through illegitimate means as according to Cloward and Ohlin?
FUNCTIONALISM
1) Criminal subcultures- develop in stable, slum areas, in which there is a hierarchy of criminal opportunity
2) Conflict subcultures- form in unstable, disorganised areas with high mobility- no access to organised hierarchy of criminal opportunity, so turn to violence
3) Retreatist subcultures- formed by touths who fail to achieve legitimate/illegitimate means , so retreat from society’s values altogether and descend into addiction and petty crime
What does Miller say about youth deviance?
FUNCTIONALISM
- Challenges idea of a core value consensus as w/c boys do not try to gain academic success
- W/C values differ- ‘focal concerns’. E.g: being in trouble, being tough and macho, being smart and streetwise, freedom and excitement
Evaluation of the functionalist view?
- Present a view that is a ‘sweeping generalisation’ (in reality, w/c subcultures are subject to regional, ethnic and individual variations)
- Cohen assumes w/c boys react to failure to achieve mainstream values, but Miller says it is to achieve their own values
- All accept the official picture, based on police statistics of typical criminals being young, male and w/c
What does Murray say about youth deviance
NEW RIGHT
- Deviant youths have not received adequate socialisation into society’s value consensus. They have a different, deviant set of norms and values, based on dependency, criminality and laziness
- The underclass do not want to workand depend on the welfare state
- Suggests high rates of crime among young w/c males can be explained by single mothers raising sons with no father figure (grow up unsocialised, poor impulse control)
Evaluation of the new right view?
- MacDonald found male w/c youths wanted to work and start a family vs Murray’s idea of the underclass valuing laziness
What do CCCS studies say about youth deviance?
MARXISM
- Clarke (skinhead study) and Hebdige (punk study) found that deviant behaviour from young males as part of a subculture is a form of resistance against society’s control, and a reaction to threatened identities
What do Lea and Young say about youth deviance?
MARXISM
3 main explanations for crime and deviance:
1) Relative deprivation- people feel more deprived when they compare themselves to others. Rise of the media has led to an increase of feelings of relative deprivation (youths feel deprived vs adults)
2) Marginalisation- people feel pushed to the edges of society. Feel excluded, powerless and lack organised means to voice their frustrations (youths lack power, rights and respect)
3) Subculture- experience of relative deprivation and marginalisation may lead to the formation of subcultures to help them deal with frustration, develop lifestyles, which may become deviant
Evaluation of the marxist view?
- CCCS ignore gender (feminists), generalised about youths
- CCCS ideas are outdated- few spectacular subcultures around today
- Left realists are more up to date, and can help explain youth crime of various types
What does Becker say about youth deviance?
INTERACTIONISM
(Deviance= social construct)
- Labelling relates to power, e.g: young people label the police but the label doesn’t stick. If police label young people, it may have an effect, which results ina self-fulfilling prophecy- labelled person accepts and internalises the label and changes their behaviour to live up to the label
What does Cicourel say about youth deviance?
INTERACTIONISM
- The process of dealing with potential deviants involves 3 stages:
1) Police stop/interrogate/search individual, based on interpretations of their behaviour as suspicious/unusual
2) Police arrest indivdiual (may depend on appearance, manner and replies to police)
3) Probation officer has a picture of a typical delinquent and compares suspect to picture
Evaluation of interactionist view?
- Assume the label comes first, so don’t explain why some youth commit deviant acts before labelling
