Subcultural Theories of Crime – A Summary

Last Updated on January 16, 2019 by Karl Thompson

Introduction/ The basics

• Subcultural Theory explains deviance in terms of a deviant group, split apart from the rest of the society which encourages deviance

• Historical Period: The 1940s- 60S, Underclass Theory – 1980s

Albert Cohen: Status Frustration

• working class boys try to gain status within school and fail, thus suffer status frustration

• Some such boys find each-other and form a subculture

• status is gained within the subculture by breaking mainstream rules.

Cloward and Ohlin: Illegitimate Opportunity Structure (IOS)

• A combination of strain theory and subcultural theory

• The type of subculture an individual joins depends on existing subcultures (which form an IOS)

• 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

• Saw the lower working class as a subculture with its own set of unique values

• Working class culture emphasised six focal concerns (or core values) which encouraged criminal behaviour amongst working class youth.

• 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.

• Key features = long term unemployment, high rates of teen pregnancies and single parent households

• Means children are not socialised into mainstream norms and values and have become NEETS

• The underclass is 20 times more criminal than the rest of society.

Overall Evaluations of Subcultural Theories of Crime