Subcultural theory - C+D

Question 1

What did Cohen study?

Cohen - Status frustration:

Answer 1

1950s - examined young males from low income backgrounds in the USA.
As a response to educational failure and inability to achieve status through legitimate means these males suffered from status frustration.
This led to forming subcultural groups in order to obtain status from their peers.

Question 2

Cohen - Types of crimes committed:

Answer 2

• Graffiti, joy-riding, anti-social behaviour.
• Cohen argued that behaviours were a result of seeking revenge against society for blocked opportunities.

Question 3

A03: Cohen

Answer 3

• Cohen assums that people want to conform to society’s norms and values and that being unable to do so leads to a reaction -> Merton
• Cohen explains petty crime.

Question 4

Cloward + Ohlin: A01

Answer 4

• Suggest that based upon the area young w/c males lived in, they had different opportunities to commit crime.

Question 5

Cloward+Ohlin: 3 subcultures:

Answer 5

1. Criminal subcultures: Based in areas where there was an existing structure of criminal behaviours. Young men = apprenticed into crime by being employed in low level positions. Those who displayed the right attitudes progressed through the organisation.
2. Conflict subcultures: Areas where social organisation had less social cohesion. Rival gangs would form and generate conflict with one another. Status is awarded for violent and criminal acts towards members of other groups.
3. Retreatist subcultures: People who do not fit into social norms, so they deviate away from it. Substance abuse and petty crimes = a mean to escape the rejction from society.

Question 6

A03: Cloward + Ohlin

Answer 6

• Matza = young males will drift in and out of delinquency - subcultures are a phase of young adulthood.
• Assumes that people subscribe to norms and values of society in the first place and that failure leads to a reactionn against these norms and values.