Functionalist SUBCULTURAL Perspective

• What was Cohen’s study?

  Status frustration
• What was Cloward & Ohlin’s study?

  Legitimate + illegitimate opportunity study
• What was Miller’s study?

  Focal concerns (FATEST)
• Why did Cohen say that WC boys experienced s. frustration?

  They’re taught MC + mainstream goals/values, but lack the means to achieve them
• Whose ideas did Cohen adapt to create ’S. frustrations’?

  Merton’s ‘Strain’ theory
• What does s. frustration lead WC youths to do?


  Reject mainstream values > join delinquent sub. w/ delinquent values e.g. aggression > gain status among peers
• Cohen AO3: How do PM’s Lyng & Katz criticise ‘status frustration’?

  Individual is most likely bored, thrill-seeking
• Cohen AO3: What does Paul Willis attempt to address which Cohen does not?

  Why WC boys struggle to get status in skl + mainstream society
• Cohen AO3: How do Feminists critique him? (HINT: Girls)

  If deviance is due to low status, then in 1950’s America ESP. you would expect girls to be in deviant subs too
• How do Cloward & Ohlin agree w/ Merton?

  WC youths face barriers to legitimate means to achieving societal goals
• How do Cloward & Ohlin‘s ideas differ from Merton?

  They say that not everyone turns to crime, instead some turn to violence + drug-trade.
• Why do ppl respond differently when denied access to legitimate means, according to C&O? (HINT: Why do they create 3 diff. criminal subs?)

  Individuals have different access to both legitimate/illegitimate means
• What 3 types of criminal subcultures did Cloward & Ohlin identify?

  1. Criminal
  2. Conflict
  3. Retreatist
• C&O: Describe Criminal subcultures:

  • Arise in areas w/ longstanding criminal culture
  • Youths are selected + groomed into crime by adult criminal role models
• C&O: Describe Conflict subcultures:

  • Arise in areas w/ HIGH pop. turnover > criminal network can’t develop
  • Little organised adult crime
  • Violence = way of releasing frustration
• C&O: Describe Retreatist subcultures:

  • Made up those who failed in the other 2 subs
  • ‘Retreat’ into drugs
• How does Miller’s ‘focal concerns’ study differ from Cohen + Cloward & Ohlin’s explanations for crime?

  Miller says a lower-class sub exists which has their own values/culture, different from higher classes.
• What are Miller’s 6 ‘Focal concerns’? (HINT: FATEST)

  1. Fate
  2. Autonomy
  3. Toughness
  4. Excitement
  5. Smartness
  6. Trouble
• AO3: Functionalists make sweeping generalisations about _C

  culture + ignore r_______ and e_____ variations.

  WC - Ignore regional and ethnic variations
• AO3: Who said that the subcultures identified by C&O are rare in the UK?

  Marshall
• AO3: Who said that Functionalist explanations are ‘malestreaming’?


  Heidensohn
• AO3: These studies are all o_______.

  Outdated
• AO3: Taylor criticised all these theories for assuming that everyone shares the common societal goal of - ?


  Wealth