class

• functionalists


  see crime as product of inadequate socialisation

  different groups and classes may develop their own subcultures
• miller


  functionalist

  lower class has developed an independent subculture with own norms and values

  higher crime rates with wc

  mc are victims
• merton


  strain theory

  people engage in deviant behaviour when their opportunities to achieve in legitimate ways are blocked

  
  

  society denies wc opportunity of achieving American dream
• Cohen


  subcultural theory

  sees wc youths as culturally deprived- not been properly socialised in to mc culture

  form delinquent subcultures
• cloward and Olin


  subcultural theory

  identify 3 subcultures in wc areas

  criminal- organised crime

  conflict - gang wars

  retreatists - drug dealers
• labelling theory


  focus on how and why wc people come to be labelled as criminal

  stereotypes are held by law enforcers
• Marxists


  law is enforced disproportionately against wc

  official crime statistics cannot be relied upon