Sub cultural theory

• Sub cultural theory contra culture

  Cloward and Ohlin

  some groups are antagonistic to wider society and want to overthrow or change it by revolutionary means
• Sub cultural theory countercultures

  Cloward and Ohlin

  groups which reject mainstream society but create their own separate alternatives

  E.g Hippies joined communes and tried to develop simple self-sufficient, agricultural lifestyles- indicates their rejection of society's values
• Sub cultural theory non-utilitarian crime

  Cloward and Ohlin

  a crime that does not produce a monetary reward
• Sub cultural theory non-utilitarian crime

  Cloward and Ohlin

  deviance amongst working class males in gang culture was not necessarily related to financial ends
• Sub cultural theory collective

  Cloward and Ohlin

  found that crime was committed in groups, not individually as suggested by Merton
• Sub cultural theory status frustration

  Cohen

  describe how working class males feel frustrated by their inability to achieve the same status as those of the middle or upper class

  delinquency is a reaction to feeling out of place in society
• Sub cultural theory weakness of Cohen

  • Edgework (Lyng) - doesn't recognise the fun the young may get from breaking the law
  • only helps to explain some working class offences
  • Mary O'brien malestream
• Sub cultural theory legitimate/ illegitimate opportunity structure

  Cloward and Ohlin

  legitimate opportunity structure- socially acceptable means to achieving social goals

  illegitimate opportunity structure- available through gang membership
• Sub cultural theory criminal subculture

  Cloward and Ohlin

  occurs in already established criminal underworld, where young men are 'apprentice criminals' from an early age and learn the craft of crime by the elders - mafia
• Sub cultural theory conflict subculture

  Cloward and Ohlin

  gangs organised by young people themselves, often based on claiming territory- 'turf wars'
• Sub cultural theory retreatist/Double failures

  Cloward and Ohlin

  unable too become proper criminals and so they resort to drug abuse financed by petty crime
• Sub cultural theory strengths

  • recognises different youth sub-culture
  • emphasises the need for legitimate means
  • shows importance of illegitimate opportunity structures
• Sub cultural theory weakness

  • little evidence of hierarchy describes
  • ignores inter-relationships between each sub culture
  • no mention of female criminality
  • Downes and Rock- middle class gang delinquency has been under-reported. why does it concentrate on the working class