Subcultural strain theories of deviance Cohen: status frustration Cloward and ohlin: 3 subcultures Miller: focal concerns Matza: techniques of neutralisation Recent strain theories: meisner and rosenfield

Cohen: status frustration and alternative status hierarchy

Cohen argues that deviance is a largely lower class phenomenon He suggests that it results from the inability of the w/c to obtain mainstream success by legitimate means such as educational achievement- they underachieve Like merton, cohen thought that lower w/c hold the success goals of the mainstream culture, but due to educational failure and dead end jobs they have little opportunity to attain them

Link between cohens work and cultural and material deprivation Cultural deprivation: lack of parental interest in education, norms and values Material deprivation: money, resources, housing, diet etc They don’t have the conforming norms and values or the money/resources to achieve

Status frustration – w/c boys Suck at the bottom of the stratification structure, and their avenues to success are blocked, w/c boys suffer from status frustration Their frustration leads to a rejection of the goals of the mainstream culture They then replace them with an alternative set of norms and values and turn to other boys in the same situation eg they place a higher value on stealing and truancy which is condemned by wider society Cohen calls this a delinquent subculture These involved taking malicious pleasure in causing discomfort to others He gives the example of defecating on the teachers desk Cohen says that the delinquent subculture offers positive rewards Those who perform successfully gain status in the eyes of their peers This way becomes a a way for w/c boys to solve their status frustration They reject mainstream values and substitute their own, this is why they are not motivated by monetary reward and take part in non utilitarian crimes Argues it is collectiveresponse to status frustration and their position in the stratification structure

Alternative status hierarchy Cohen believes that these delinquent subcultures offer an illegitimate opportunity structure for w/c boys who couldn’t get in it the mainstream, legitimate way. These subcultures give ways to achieve status by delinquent behaviour This explains the difference to merton- cohen sees that there need be no utilitarian motive for crime, but for gaining status in the delinquent subculture. Gives them status and prestige

A03 to cohen Box: believes that cohens theory is only plausible for a small number of delinquents He says that most feel resentment at being regarded as failures by teachers (labelling) and m/c youths whose values they don’t share and cannot accept, and they turn against them

Cloward and ohlin: 3 subcultures

These theorists develop and combine many of the insights of merton and cohen While accepting mertons view of w/c criminal deviance, they argue that he has failed to explain why some gangs concentrate on theft while others focus on vandalism or violence Cloward and ohlin suggest that merton explained deviance in terms of a legitimate opportunity structure He failed to consider an illegitimate opportunity structure eg if there is a thriving adult criminal subculture in an area, this provides the change for adolescents to become a successful criminal Instead they say that there are three responses by the w/c to the fact that they have less opportunity to succeed by legitimate means

Criminal subcultures - utilitarian Here adolescents use crime for material gain (utilitarian crime) This subculture usually forms in areas where there is an established organisation of adult crime that provides an illegitimate opportunity structure for youths to learn the tricks of the trade Have access to illegitimate opportunity structures and utilitarian crime as they are socialised into a life of crime by members of organised criminal gands

Conflict subculture – non utilitarian When an illegitimate opportunity structure is not available, delinquents often form conflicting gangs out of frustration at the lack of any available opportunity structures The mods and rockers are an example of one such conflict subculture Have little access to illegitimate opportunity structures due to lack of organised crime gangs in their area but can achieve status through gang violent

Retreatist subcultures These subcultural groups involved drug use and hustling, are generally found among ‘double failures’ Those that cannot find acceptance in either legitimate groups or the two other subcultures Have no access to either legitimate or illegitimate opportunity structures. They may have failed in the other two types of subculture and ‘retreat’ into a world of drugs

A03 to cloward and ohlin Their theory is useful as it helps explain why w/c boys take different routes of delinquency- dependent of their social circumstance Doesn’t mention the crimes of the wealthy

Miller: focal concerns

Miller argues that the strain theories of cohen and cloward and ohlin can be criticised for assuming that everyone has the same mainstream success goals Miller differs from previous theories because he sees the lower class as having its own distinctive lower class subcultures (their own goals) For centuries members of the us lower class have passed on the values and ways of life that have actively encouraged lower class men to break the law. Are socialised to live like this

Focal concerns (Values) This distinctive lower class cultural system (like the travelling community) has areas of interest and involvement that focus on… 1: toughness: a concern for masculinity that can lead to assault and battery. A rejection of weakness and timidity through socialisation. Eg: fighting, macho attitudes 2: smartness: involves the capacity to outsmart or ‘con’ eg the hustler, pimp, cheeking authority 3: fatalism: ‘whatever will be will be’ – link to education eg poor school grades, fighting 3: trouble: young w/c males accept their lives will involve violence and they will not run away from fights 4: autonomy: independence, not being pushed around

The status of lower w/c youth can depend on his reputation for toughness and smartness Miller argues that delinquency is simply an exaggerated way of acting out the focal concerns of the lower class students Given the boredom of routine w/c jobs, the subculture compensates with an emphasis for excitement m/c activities can also exhibit some of these focal concerns eg sports: rugby-> macho attitudes

Matza: techniques of neutralisation

Matza has attacked some of the assumptions on which subcultural theories are based He says they make deviants more distinctive than they really are Trapped by circumstances they assume that an individual automatically propelled down the road of deviance Matza argues that male delinquents are not in opposition to societys norms and values (they are actually committed to the same norms and values as the rest of society) Most of the time society has a moral hold over them and they conform to its norms and values. Even if you carry out focal concerns you cannot escape the moral hold Even in training school they express disapproval at those who have carried out armed robbery, mugging etc- prisoners – murder, peados

Techniques of neutralisation Matza thinks that delinquents are able to create a ‘moral blind’ – to convince themselves that the law doesn’t apply to them on specific occasions They employ techniques of neutralisation to temporarily release them from the hold that society has over them These include: sex before marriage, love for god etc

Techniques: 1: denial of responsibility: the delinquents blame their parents of the area they live in 2: denial of injury: resulting from the act eg joyriding doesn’t hurt anyone 3: denial that the act was basically wrong: eg assaulting a homosexual They do not own up to their mistake that it was their responsibility Condemnation of those who enforce the rules place a negative image on those who are opposed to criminal behaviour eg judges, police This technique comes into play when a juvenile gets into trouble because of trying to help or protect a friend of family member

The first point that matza made is that we all hold two levels of values: 1: conventional values (manifest): roles such as father, occupation 2: subterranean values (latent): values of sexuality, greed and aggressiveness These are however, generally controlled, but we all hold them, and we all do them Matza thus suggests that delinquents are simply more likely than most of us to behave according to the subterranean values in ‘inappropriate situations’ Eg during leisure activities most people express themselves through acting on the spur of the moment, but delinquents try to do this at school or work similar to immediate gratification For matza, the final decision to step over the line comes in a mood of fatalism Delinquents feel powerless in relation to those around them, and to prove they can influence what is happening around them they commit a delinquent act

A03 of matza It makes no attempt to refer to the economic circumstances that drive male w/c youth into greater levels of delinquency than anyone else, if a youth wished to gain control over their destiny- surely any act would – not a crime Taylor et al: raise doubts about the view that those who are using the techniques of neutralisation are never challenging the dominant views in society Box suggests that evidence that criminals are remorseful may not be sincere

Recent strain theories

Recent strain theories suggest that young people have pursued a variety of goals other than monetary success. These include: Popularity with peers, autonomy from adults, the desire to be treated like men The failure to achieve these goals may result in delinquency thus not only experienced by w/c. This may also explain that m/c juveniles too may have problems in achieving such goals, thus offering an explanation for m/c delinquency

Meisner and rosenfeild

Their institutional anomie theory focuses on the American dream They argue that its obsession with money success and its winner takes all mentality exert pressure towards crime by encouraging an economic cultural environment in which people are encouraged to adopt an ‘anything does mentality’ in pursuit of wealth In the us (and arguably the uk) economic goals are valued above all, and this often undermines other institutions For example, schools become geared to preparing pupils for the labour market at the expense of generating values such as respect for others. Secondary socialisation into market values rather than respect He concludes that societies based on free market capitalism lack welfare provision, such as the us where high crime rates are inevitable This view is supported by research from downes and Hansen whose survey findings of crime rates and welfare spending in 18 countries showed that societies that spend more on welfare had lower rates of imprisonment This is further endorsed by research that found that there was a rise in crime after the fall of communism

Overview

Train theories argue that deviance occurs when peope cannot achieve societys goals by legitimate means. Merton argues that this produces a ‘strain to anomie’ that may result in innovation, ritualism, retreatism or rebellion Subcultural theories see much deviance as collective rather than individual response. Cohen argues that subcultural deviance results from status frustration and takes a non utilitarian form. Cloward and ohlin see three different deviant subcultures (criminal, conflict and retreatist) arising rom differences in access to illegitimate opportunity structures Recent strain theories argue that capitalist economies generate greater stain to crime

Cohen: delinquent subcultures, status frustration Cloward and ohlin: criminal, conflict and retreatist subcultures, illegitimate opportunity structures Miller: focal concerns: toughness, smartness, fatalism, trouble, excitement, autonomy Matza: conventional and subterranean values, techniques of neutralisation: denial of responsibility, denial of injury, moral blind