Youth Participation In Deviant Subcultures

Question 1

What do functionalists believe causes youths participating in deviance?

Answer 1

Lack of educational opportunity or success

Question 2

Who discusses ‘status frustration’?

Answer 2

Cohen

Question 3

What does Cohen say about working class boys?

Answer 3

They are aware of mainstream values (success in school, a good job), and how you can gain status from this.
Though if a working class boy clings to this, he will recognise himself as inferior compared to middle class boys.

Question 4

Why may ‘status frustration’ cause deviance?

Answer 4

Joining a delinquent subculture, which values aggression, can lead to status.

Question 5

What does Cloward and Ohlin discuss?

Answer 5

‘Blocked opportunities’

Question 6

Why, according to Cloward and Ohlin, may someone turn to illegitimate means to achieve?

Answer 6

They cannot achieve values of mainstream culture.
Not all have same educational opportunities

Question 7

What three subcultures form depending on the illegitimate means available? (Cloward and Ohlin)

Answer 7

• Criminal: stable slum areas where there’s a hierarchy of criminal opportunity.
• Conflict: unstable disorganised area with high mobility. No access to organised criminal opportunity or hierarchy, so youths turn to violence and gangs to defend
• Retreatist: formed by youths who fail to achieve legitimately or illegitimately. They will retreat from societal values and descend to addiction or petty crime.

Question 8

Why is Millet different to the other functionalists?

Answer 8

He believes working class boys don’t try to gain academic success as that’s a middle class value.

Question 9

What does Miller call working class values?

Answer 9

‘Focal concerns’
being in trouble, macho, and they value freedom.

Question 10

How may the functionalist view be criticised?

Answer 10

• generalise working class culture, ignoring the regional, ethic and individual variations.
• functionalists base their data on official police statistics, but other sociologists (interactionists) may challenge this by looking at labelling

Question 11

What is the New Right explanation for youth deviance?

Answer 11

They have not received the appropriate socialisation into the value consensus. They have a different set of norms based on dependency, criminality and laziness

Question 12

What is Murray’s New Right argument?

Answer 12

• The underclass can be seen as a deviant subculture.
• He believes the increase in single mothers raising young boys explains high rates of crime among males from deprived backgrounds.
• He believes this is a greater indicator of criminality than poverty.
• He believes girls may be emotionally damaged without a father, and will search for a substitute

Question 13

What does Murray say about boys growing up without a father figure?

Answer 13

‘Grow up unsocialised’
‘Poor impulse control’
‘Sexual predators’
‘Unable to go to a job’

Question 14

How may the New Right be criticised?

Answer 14

• They victim blame
• Ignore variety of reasons to why people are part of the underclass
• Not based on clear sociological evidence, and contradicts most other theories.
• Highly pessimistic. In reality, those in the underclass and the unemployed aspire for the same thing which is stability.

Question 15

What do Neo-Marxists/Marxists see deviance in young males a response to?

Answer 15

Society’s control and a reaction to their identity being threatened

Question 16

What Left realists discuss the three expiations for crime and deviance?

Answer 16

Lea and Young

Question 17

What are the three explanations for crime and deviance according to Lea and Young?

Answer 17

1. Relative deprivation: media allows youths to compare them self to adults. They feel deprived with freedom and money.
2. Marginalisation: young people lack power rights and respect so are more likely to feel marginalised and lack the ability to voice their frustration
3. Subculture: these feelings may lead them to form subcultures to express their frustration

Question 18

How may the Marxist view be critiqued?

Answer 18

-ignore gender
-postmodernists say they are outdated

Question 19

How do interactionalists see youth deviance?

Answer 19

A social construct where society has defined certain behaviour as deviant.

Question 20

What interactionist discusses the power of labelling and a ‘self fulfilling prophecy’?

Answer 20

Becker

Question 21

What is Becker’s labelling theory?

Answer 21

• Labelling relates to power, and how young working class males are labelled by the police, public and the media. They can make labels stick.
  E.g the police can increase stop and searches and arrest more.
• This may lead to a ‘self fulfilling prophecy as they will accept and internalise the label.
  E.g youths being labelled as trouble and are stopped often may believe they are.

Question 22

What were the three processes of dealing with potential deviants according to Cicourel?

Answer 22

1. police stop and search an individual based on their interpretation of behaviour
2. police arrest which may depend on appearance, replies, and manner
3. Probation officer has a photo of a typical delinquent and assesses the suspect to see if they fit.

Question 23

What did Cicourel’s study conclude on?

Answer 23

Delinquents are constructed by agencies of control and their policies.

Question 24

How can justice be negotiated according to cicourel?

Answer 24

• If the individual is polite and apologetic no further action will be taken.
• At the point of arrest the parents can convince it won’t happen again and show themselves as a ‘good family’. This links to social class.

Question 25

How may the interactionist view be evaluated?

Answer 25

Assume the label comes first, don’t explain why some commit acts before they have been labelled