Week Ten - Subcultures Flashcards
Who is the main individual of this theory?
Albert Cohen
What was Subcultural Theory influenced by?
Influenced by ‘strain theory’, Albert Cohen (1955) introduced the notion of subculture to the study of delinquency.
However, unlike Merton, Cohen was interested in…
However, unlike Merton, Cohen was interested in why lower class gangs in particular seem to be “non-utilitarian, malicious and negativistic”.
He wanted to know why much lower class crime is purposeless?
Two conceptions of crime?
Culture as passive - routine, regular and predictable. It is the means by which society regulates itself. It is traditional, determined by the social order.
Culture as active – creative, inventive, progressive and forward thinking. This is culture as resistance, transgression, and deviance.
It is not ‘anomie’, or the search for success, that motivates lower class criminals…
It is not ‘anomie’, or the search for success, that motivates lower class criminals, but the fact they lack status within respectable society.
As a consequence, they become contemptuous of adult authority; for example towards schools which embody middle class values.
In their place they substitute a set of oppositional values which provide them with the means to rebel and so gain status amongst their peer group.
They do what they do – truant, fight, vandalise property - for kicks, “for the hell of it”.
Differential Association…
So ‘delinquency’ – even senseless and meaningless such as vandalism, violence – is seen as a solution
Sub-cultures are a reaction to the dominant culture based on competition and achievement
Sub-cultures create a sense of belonging, a sense of community. They protect the group from outside forces and they present an image and an identity to others.
Through ‘differential association’, the rejected evolve delinquent gang solutions to acquire status and to hit back at the system that has branded them failures.
