THEORIES ON DEVIANT SUBCULUTRES Flashcards
functionalist view on deviant subcultures
- ## focus on norms and values in subcultures
list some functionalist sociologists who argue about deviant subcultures?
- Merton = recognised that individuals experience a strain between the goals or values of society. They can’t achieve the American dream so they look for alternative routes.
- innovation, ritualism, retreatism
- Cohen = teenage boys desire status and he wants respect they are aware of the mainstream values such as success in school and good qualifications but middle-class boys can achieve these qualifications more easily, which leads to status frustration which could explain why WC boys tend to be more involved in crimes
- Cloward and Ohlin = deviance a reaction to problems in achieving the values of mainstream culture, as they aren’t able to achieve the desired goals in a society like money and profession they do it in illegitimate ways
1. - people experience blocekd oppurutinutes
2. - outlined three subcultures = criminal, conflict and retreatist - Miller = working class boys do not even try to gain academic qualifications or sices that are the middle-class values. the working class are different and young working-class boys focus on being deviant and troublesome
AO3 for functionalist view on deviant subcultures
- present wc as the sweeping generalisation whereas wc are not all the same
- Cohen assumes all WC boys react to their failures in deviant ways
- miller disagrees saying it is just to achieve their values and mutual disagreement
- interactionists = labelling theory and how that leads to crime
- Marxist - ignores capitalist society and how deviancy is a form of rebellion against the bourgeoisie
- rise in female crimes
New rights explanation of deviant subculture?
- youth deviance subculture is because of a lack of appropriate socialisation and they have witnessed different sets of norms and values on dependency criminality and laziness
list some new right sociologist’s views on deviant subcultures
- Murray = underclass do not want to work and see dependency on welfare as a positive lifestyle choice. particularly on lifestyle choices the entire underclass can be seen as a deviant subculture
- particularly condemned the increase in single mothers raising young boys with no fathers in their lives. Girls without fathers may be emotionally damaged by this and search for a replacement often by getting pregnant at a young age
Evaluation of new rights theory on deviant subcultures
- Ignores those who come from deprived socio-economic backgrounds who commit crimes. Idolises the new right family, the dark side of the family
The theory of a ‘golden age’ is criticised as it resits social change - very little evidence of young girls getting pregnant with a boy they have never had a relationship with and going straight to benefits
Marxists’ view on deviant subcultures
they believe youth deviant subcultures are formed due to capitalist society and their resistance to it.
list some Marxist views on deviant subcultures
HALL AND JEFFERSON: bourgeoisie impose values through hegemony by the media and economy > leaves society feeling deprived and controlled > Young people form youth subcultures to rebel through fashion and music eg. punks
CLARKE: skinheads > attempt to magically recover working class community > new community created based on masculinity, territory etc. were sexist, racist and involved in football hooliganism
GILROY: some young black people commit crimes as political acts> protest against institutional racism > eg. riots > Young feel oppressed due to the exploitative nature of capitalist society
LEA AND YOUNG : relative deprivation, marginalisation and subcultures where a group feels relative deprivation and shared marginalisation
Evaluation of Marxist View on Deviant Subcultures
S COHEN: researcher bias > exists when studying subcultures > interpretations say more about sociologists than individuals as they may not have had class consciousness
MUGGLETON: class, gender and ethnicity no longer matter due to the rise of consumer culture
McRobbie: studies are too male stream > don’t focus on girls’ role > therefore not valid
Interactionists’ view on deviant subcultures
- see deviance as socially constructed and mainstream society has defined a certain behaviour as deviant and identified the kind of people they see as the deviant. the young get labelled as deviant by the police, the public and the media.
List some names of interactionists’ views on the deviant subcultures
BECKER: labelling by powerful agencies of social control > label acts as deviant > they’re moral entrepreneurs > leads to self-fulfilling prophecy > join deviant subcultures
CICOUREL: police typifications > police stop people who look more like the ‘ideal’ criminal > official stats make it appear that ethnic minorities and w/c commit more crime but they’re just more likely to be labelled
YOUNG: drug takers study > hippies took drugs > was not a central part of their identity and it was done in private > police labelled the hippies > hippies became marginalised and self-fulfilled
evaluation of interactionists’ view on deviant subcultures
DOWNES AND ROCK: labelling theory is deterministic > they can always self-negate
doesn’t explain how they are labelled in the first place
MURRAY: underclass
COHEN: status frustration
Explain Merton strain theory in more detail
Conformity - achieving the social goals through socially acceptable ways and achieveing the American dream
innovation - achieving the social goals through unacceptable ways like drug dealing but also achieving the American dream
Ritualism - mediocre achievement through socially acceptable way so not achieving the extreme goals which is set by society it’s just standard
Retreatism - rejecting all the social goals and desires like the American dream and running away from society’s social norms and values
Rebellion - achieving the goals is rejected similar to retreatism but rebellion try’s to change and replace the social goals to what they desire because they see the goals as in unachievable
