Topic 6 - Subcultural

• A. Cohen

  • Subcultures allow lower class boys to gain status through misbehaving and inverting traditional values.
  • Originally strove to emulate middle class values but were unable, which led to status frustration
• Venkatesh

  • Youth join criminal subcultures as a defence mechanism against structural inequalities.
  • Outlaw Capitalism allowed them to gain status, money, and defend each other.
• Cloward and Ohlin

  • Working class youth deviate from societal norms if they don't have access to the legitimate opportunity structures so instead have to use the illegitimate opportunity structure in which they can earn money and status via crime.
• Miller

  • Working class boys are attracted to criminal subcultures as they are socialised into a set of focal concerns, such as excitement, toughness, autonomy, and fate
• Matza

  • Young males are more likely to experience drift theory, in which their sense of obligation to the law becomes strained and they drift into crime.
  • Use the techniques of neutralisation to justify their criminality - denial of responsibility, victims, and injury
• Marxists, like Snider and Gordon, would criticise the idea that criminal subcultures are functional for only working class youth. White collar and corporate crimes are functional for the same reason - money and status! And these operate in a middle class environment, despite them having access to legitimate opportunities.
• Gramsci

  • Working class youth are not yet ideologically controlled by capitalism and have the capacity to challenge the system.
  • Criminal subcultures are a way for the working class to rebel against cultural hegemony
• Hebdige

  • Alternative spectacular youth subcultures are used to reject cultural hegemony
  • Create their own distinctive style to solve the problems of capitalism, providing 'imaginary solutions'
• Scraton

  • Deviant subcultures are a legitimate resistance to oppression and exclusion
  • Ethnic minorities face historic and structural racism which excludes them
  • Resist inequality through political protests (BLM) or joining gangs or alternative lifestyles (Rastafarianism)
• Katz (P) criticises the Marxist view that crime is politically motivated or a rebellion against capitalism. Crime is impulsive, seductive, and sensual which attracts youth transgression for the thrill.
• Cieslik & Pollack

  • Found young women were using pro-ana and pro-mia online subcultures to deviate against patriarchal ideology of the ideal body image.
  • Used eating disorders to gain control over their own bodies and not conform to male dominated ideas of female body image.
• Harding

  • Young women in criminal subcultures are controlled by a patriarchal hierarchy and play secondary roles.
  • Women play the 'fixer' and often face sexual violence
• Heidenshon

  • Patriarchy controls women in both public (work/media/education) and private (family/socialisation) spheres which means they have less opportunities to be involved in deviant subcultures.
• McRobbie & Garber

  • Women are socialised into a 'bedroom culture' that centres around indoor activities whilst boys are encouraged to play outside
• Adler - Liberation Thesis

  • Women should be be more deviant and criminal in order to challenge and eradicate patriarchy
  • Examples: Pussy Riot, #MeToo
• Jackson

  • Women rebel against the patriarchy by creating deviant subcultures like the Ladettes
• Messerschmidt

  • Young males express their hegomonic masculinity through criminal activities
  • Examples: drugdealer = breadwinner, violence = protector, sexism = dominance
• Haenfler

  • Some men practice nerd masculinity via online subcultures
  • In gaming, men can compete and earn status
  • Perhaps a reaction to the dominate values of hegemonic masculinity
• The Intersectionality debate shows that factors other than patriarchy, such as capitalism, ethnicity, racism, and media, can be responsible for deviant and criminal subcultures.
• Murray

  • Underclass subscribe to deviant and criminal value systems, which are passed to their children via socialisation
  • SIngle mothers and absent fathers leads to a lack of discipline which leads to crime
• Sewell

  • Media socialises boys with absent fathers into a culture of hypermasculinity which glamorises rebellion via drug dealing (money), gang violence (status), sexism (dominance)
• Marsland

  • Culture of dependency is responsible for the underclass and therefore criminal subcultures. Welfare state is over-generous and encourages an underclass culture of immediate gratification, unemployment, and anti-authority.
• Marxists criticise the idea that the underclass are to blame for crime. New Right fails to recognise the government's role in class inequality - capitalism is an economic system that allows exploitation of the working class.
• Shildrick (M) criticises Murray's view that the underclass are responsible due to their internalised poor values - the main causes behind worklessness is the multiple forms of deprivation and social exclusion they face that leaves them with limited opportunities.