Exam 2 Flashcards
(49 cards)
Culture Conflict Theory
-Thorsten Sellin
-argues that the groups to which each of us belong hold their own conduct norms; crime results from different conduct norms coming into conflict
Subcultures
subdivision within the dominant culture that has its own norms, values, and beliefs
argot
words/terms developed by a subculture
Albert Cohen
-delinquent boys(1955)
-middle class measuring rod
-lower class children cannot get to middle class expectation
Corner Boys
hangs out on the street, eventually gets menial jobs and lives a reasonably conventional lifestyle
College Boys
lower class youth who continue to attempt to succeed via middle-class standards
Reaction Formation
mechanism that relives the anxiety of not being able to get what they want the most; flip the rules
Differential Opportunity Theory
Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin’s view that differential access to illegitimate means helps determine the types of deviance in which poor people engage
Criminal Gangs
neighborhoods where the criminal activity is well-organized
-connection between gangs and shady lawyers, corrupt police officers
-old criminals serve as role models
-subcultural will revolve around yielding illegals sources of income
-ex: classic mafia
conflict gangs
unstable neighborhoods; little criminal organization
-gangs organize around proving toughness and securing turf, indivduals and group respect
-emerge in areas where neither conventional nor criminal role model exist
ex: blood and crips
retreatist groups
double-failure: people who have been unsuccessful in other types of gangs
-no organization
-focused on drug-use, sexual deviance, alcohol abuse
-subculture more than a gang
Subculture of Violence Theory
-marvin wolfgang and franco ferracuti
-argue that young, urban males developed a distinctive subculture
-the subculture condones and expects the use o violence to resolve disputes
-slight arguments/incidents will quickly escalate into violence
Critiques of Subculture of Violence Theory
little evidence of different values regarding violence by class or racial group
- difficult to separate out “subcultural” factors from other factors faced by these groups- harsh economic conditions, poor informal social control, etc.
Miller’s Focal Concerns
Argued that, rather than resutling from conflict with the middle-class, delinqueucy was a result of the lower-class culture itself
Argued that lower-class culture holds values that promote deviant behavior
Focal Concerns and Delinquent Behavior
Since these are valued behaviors/beliefs, people gain status for acting in line with them
-acting according to these focal concerns is likely to bring one into conflict with law
-ex: the outsiders
Human Ecology
Poverty, density, and turnover
Social Disorganization Theory
breakdown of social institutions in an area
-ex: economy, family, education
Hirschi’s Social Control Theory
causes of delinquency
-theory of conformity
-assumes that people are naturally deviant
-source of conformity = social bond
social bond elements
attachment, commitment, involvement, belief
attachment
extent to which an individual has strong bonds to others
-the stronger these bonds, the less likely someone is to deviate
commitment
investment in conventional lines of action
-high aspirations = low deviance
-commitment to institutional means
involvement
time spend in conforming/conventional
-ex: youth programs, church
belief
belief/agreement with societal norms
-accept cultural goals and means
techniques of neutralization
denial of responsibility
-denial of injury
-denial of the victim
-condemnation of the condemners
-appeal to higher loyalties
