Last Updated on January 16, 2019 by Karl Thompson
Introduction/ The basics
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Subcultural Theory explains deviance in terms of a deviant group, split apart from the rest of the society which encourages deviance
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Historical Period: The 1940s- 60S, Underclass Theory – 1980s
Albert Cohen: Status Frustration
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working class boys try to gain status within school and fail, thus suffer status frustration
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Some such boys find each-other and form a subculture
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status is gained within the subculture by breaking mainstream rules.
Cloward and Ohlin: Illegitimate Opportunity Structure (IOS)
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A combination of strain theory and subcultural theory
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The type of subculture an individual joins depends on existing subcultures (which form an IOS)
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There are three types of subculture: Criminal (working class areas/ organised petit crime), Conflict (less table populations), and Retreatist (e.g. drug subcultures) which C and O saw as being formed by people who lacked the skills to join the former two).
Walter Miller: Focal Concerns
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Saw the lower working class as a subculture with its own set of unique values
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Working class culture emphasised six focal concerns (or core values) which encouraged criminal behaviour amongst working class youth.
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Three examples of these focal concerns where toughness (physical prowess), excitement (risk-taking) and smartness (being street-smart)
Charles Murray: Underclass Theory
By the 1980s an Underclass had emerged in Britain.
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Key features = long term unemployment, high rates of teen pregnancies and single parent households
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Means children are not socialised into mainstream norms and values and have become NEETS
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The underclass is 20 times more criminal than the rest of society.
Overall Evaluations of Subcultural Theories of Crime
Positive | Negative |
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X – Contemporary research shows gang (subculture) membership is more fluid than the above research stuggests
X – Recent research shows that the underclass doesn’t really exist and working class culture is more complex X – There is a much wider variety of subcultures today X – Ignores the role of agents of social control labelling in subculture formation X – Underclass Theory is ideological – based on moral panics X – Marxism: ignores the crimes of the elite. |
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