Youth Subcultures: Functionalism Flashcards
What did Cloward and Ohlin see youth deviance as?
A reaction to problems in achieving the values in mainstream culture.
What did Cloward and Ohlin say about blocked opportunities?
Just as some people experience ‘blocked opportunities’ to get goals through legal means, not everyone can achieve things through illegal means.
What three deviant subcultures did Cloward and Ohlin outline?
- Criminal subcultures
- Conflict subcultures
- Retreatist subcultures
What are criminal subcultures?
Develop in slum areas where there is a hierarchy of criminal opportunity.
What are conflict subcultures?
Formed in unstable areas where people moving in an out is high.
Youth turn to violence and form gangs to defend their areas.
What are retreatist subcultures?
Formed by youths who fail to achieve in legitimate or illegitimate terms.
They will retreat from society’s values, often turning to addiction or petty crime.
What does Millet say about working class boys?
Working-class boys do not even try to gain academic success- as that is a middle-class value.
What are focal concerns?
Millet says focal concerns are the different values of working class boys e.g. being tough and macho.
Which other functionalist does Millet contradict?
Cohen
What does Cohen say teenage boys desire?
Status, which means respect in the eyes of peers.
What does Cohen recognise within a subculture?
The deviant means to achieve society’s goals often become the accepted norm.
What does Cohen claim working class boys are aware of?
Mainstream values, such as success at school, knowing that you can get good status through these things.
What does Cohen say about status frustration?
A working-class boy who clings to mainstream values will see himself as inferior compared to middle-class boys who are academically successful, creating 'status frustration'
What explains why more working class boys get involved in crime and deviance?
A subculture may see values such as being good in a fight or aggression as a way to gain status.
What is Merton’s strain theory?
Individuals may experience a strain between what is said to be the goals/values of a society and what they can actually achieve.
