Cloward And Ohlin

• •Cloward and Ohlin accept Merton’s views that much crime and deviance stems from the lack of opportunities working-class youths have to gain ‘money success’. They also accept much of Cohen’s ideas about subcultures.•But, they argue Cohen’s theory fails to examine the way in which different subcultures respond in different ways to a lack of legitimate opportunities e.g. some subcultures centre on violent crime, others theft, others drug use.
• •Cloward and Ohlin’s suggest the key reason subcultural responses occur is not only unequal access to legimate opportunity structure –

    but unequal access to illegimate opportunity structures.

  ••For example: not everyone who fails by legimate means such as schooling, then has an equal chance of becoming a successful criminal.
• Criminal Subuculture

  Provides youth an opportunity for utilitarian crime.

  Normally in locations with high-standing crime culture.

  This subculture allows young offenders to copy olders as role models to help facilitate their crime.
• Conflict Subculture

  Normally where there is high turnover of residence, which creastes high disorganisation which prevents a stable criminal group from forming.

  Winning the ‘turf’ from rival gangs is key to allowing individuals to release frustration and disorganisation
• Retreatist Subculture

  Where individuals have experienced ‘double failure’.

  Failed to achieve through legitimate and illegitimate ways, and as a result turn to drug use.
• Eval

  Strengths

  Provide an explanation for different types of group deviance – not just utilitarian crime
• Eval

  Weaknesses

  Ignores crimes of the wealthy/powerful

  Deterministic – ignores the fact that most w/c don’t commit crime

  Draw boundaries too sharply between subcultures (South) – the drug trade includes all 3 subcultures.

  Assumes deviant  subcultures shared mainstream values to begin with – Miller argues they have different values.
• •Focal concerns – working class youths don’t aim for mainstream values of money success but other values like toughness, excitement etc. They join delinquent subcultures to satisfy these needs (use to criticise or contrast with other subcultural theories).•Institutional anomie – v. similar to Merton. Argue that crime occurs because at an institutional level society places more value on money success than it does the social controls that prevent crime – e.g. schools put more emphasis on the job market rather than teaching respect (use to support Merton).
• Boundary maintenance


  • Crime may bring together the rest of society in condemning the criminal and reinforce social norms
• Adaptation and change


  • Some deviance is needed in order for social change to occur and stop society stagnating
• A warning of social problems


  • Too much crime can suggest there is a problem in a social institution that needs solving
• Helping criminals achieve money success

  Merton argues that many turn to crime because they lack the means to achieve wealth legitimately and so turn to utilitarian crime to gain it in illegitimate ways
• Helping criminals achieve status

  Cohen argues that criminal subcultures allow working class youths who are denied status in school to gain status among their peers