SUBCULTURE THEORY

Deviance is the result of individuals conforming to the values and norms of a social group to which they belong, if you
belong to a social group whose norms differ from those of the main society then you will become a deviant.
Cohen said lower-working-class boys want to achieve the success which is valued by mainstream culture. But due to
educational failure and the dead-end jobs that result from this they have little chance of achieving these goals. This
results in status frustration, the boys are at the bottom of the social structure and have little chance of gaining a
higher status in society. This is similar to Mertons theory, however Cohen said that instead of turning to crime as
Merton said, they reject the norms and values of mainstream society and instead turn to the norms and values of a
delinquent subculture. In this subculture the boys can achieve success because the social group has different norms
and values from the rest of society. So in this culture a high value is placed upon criminal acts such as stealing and
vandalism which are condemned by mainstream society.

In these subcultures the individual who lacked respect in mainstream society can gain it by committing crimes such as
vandalism and truancy. Because the crimes reward the individual with respect there is not always the need for a
monetary value to commit a crime, so the subcultural perspective explains why people commit non-utilitarian crimes.

Cloward and Ohlin developed Cohens theory. They said that there are three
different types of subcultures that young people might enter into; criminal
subcultures, conflict subcultures and retreatist subcultures.Criminal
subcultures tend to emerge in areas where there is a lot of organised adult crime,
here there are criminal role models for young people, and they learn how to commit
criminal acts. In these subcultures the young people can climb up the professional
criminal ladder by committing more crimes. These subcultures are normally
concerned with utilitarian crimes, which yield financial reward.

Conflict subcultures tend to emerge in areas where there is little organised adult
crime, so instead of learning how to commit serious monetary crimes the young
people instead focus on gaining respect through gang violence.
Retreatist subcultures are for young people who have even failed in the criminal
subcultures, these people are double failures. They tend to retreat to drugs and
alcohol abuse to deal with the fact that they have been rejected from other
subcultures. Walter B. Miller said that a deviant subculture doesnt arise from the
inability of the members to achieve success; instead he said that crime is a result of
the fact that there is a lower-class subculture with different norms and values to the
rest of society. He said these different values mean that for members of this culture
there are a number of concerns and things people want to achieve, he called these
focal concerns and they include:

Toughness Miller said that people within the lower-class subculture value
toughness as an important trait; however this can manifest itself in assault and
violence.

Smartness This culture also value the ability to outfox each other. This will often
lead to people trying to con, pickpocket or steal from each other in clever ways.

Excitement This culture constantly searches for excitement and thrills. This often
means gambling, alcohol and sexual adventures.

Miller said this mix of focal concerns can lead to a culture which accepts crime and
deviance as normal.

David Matza said that delinquents arent actually in opposition to societys norms
and values. He said that society has a strong moral hold on them and this prevents
them from engaging in delinquent activities for most of the time, he said that the
fact that these people often show remorse for their actions later in life support this
view. Instead he said these young delinquents are involved in crime only
occasionally as part-time law breakers.

Matza said that delinquents convince themselves they are not breaking the law, and
this allows them to commit crimes whilst still accepting societys norms and values.
However, Matza said that within mainstream societies values there are
subterranean values which promote the ideas of acting in the spur of the moment
for excitement and thrills. Although the subterranean values are within mainstream
societies set of values, they could encourage behaviour which breaks the law and
are then seen by mainstream society as criminal or deviant.

Through this theory of delinquency drift Matza explains how he thinks young
people within a subculture can break the values of society without really recognising
that they are doing so, and then later in life drift back into mainstream society as
these subterranean values become less important to the individual.

2) Functionalist perspective
POSTED BY SAM COOK MAY 12, 2012 2 COMMENTS

FILED UNDER CRIME AND DEVIANCE, HUMAN-RIGHTS, NORMS AND

VALUES, POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

Crime is inevitable Durkheim, a functionalist, said that crime is inevitable in

society. This is because not everyone will buy into the collective sentiments of
society, and will deviate from these norms and beliefs.

Durkheim said a certain amount of crime and deviance as normal and an integral
part of all healthy societies. This is because it acts as a safety valve, providing a
relatively harmless way for someone to express their discontent. For example,
Cohen said that prostitution performs such a safety valve function without
threatening the institution of the family, this is because he believed this crime of
prostitution could relieve the stress in a discrete way without damaging the rest of
the clients life.

Clinard said crime also served the function of acting as a warning device. This is
because the crime indicates that there is an aspect of society that is malfunctioning.
So the crime draws attention to the problem within society, which can then be fixed.

Durkheim said that crime in society isnt genetically produced, but is natural in
society. However, he did say that too much crime was dangerous in a society, and
this is an idea Merton developed.

Merton and Anomie

Merton observed American culture. He said that this society bought into the
American dream of having a successful career with lots of money, material
possessions and a nice family.

Merton said that in a balanced society everyone will be happy, however, he said
American society isnt balanced, so when people struggle to live up to societies
norms and values they try and find other ways of achieving this success, and act
normlessly. Merton called this a strain to anomie, and it is this normless behaviour
which he said caused crime in society. Consider it like someone losing in a card
game, and the expectation for them to win is so high that they break the rules in
order to do so.

Merton said there are five ways in which members of American society could
respond to this strain to anomie:

1. Conformity Members of society conform to the norms of the rest of society

(in this case the need for material goods) and try to achieve success through
the normal means (work hard at school etc.)
 2. Innovation People who feel that they cannot possibly achieve through the
normal route try new ways of making money, in most cases this is a life of
crime

3. Ritualism People who feel they cant achieve because they have few job
prospects, but also cant turn to innovation might lower their goals and
aspirations. This is considered deviant because they have rejected societys
norms and values by creating their own lower goals.

4. Retreatism People who cannot possibly earn success and feel there is no
way to do so might retreat from society, or drop out. They resign to failure
and often turn to alcohol or drugs abuse.

5. Rebellion People who cannot succeed but do not want to just admit defeat
might rebel and try to create their own society with new goals and means.

Labeling theoryis based on, actions, and reactions. This theory holds that behaviors
are deviant only when society labels them as deviant. As such, conforming members of
society, who interpret certain behaviors as deviant and then attach this label to
individuals, determine the distinction between deviance and nondeviance. Labeling
theory questions who applies what label to whom, why they do this, and what happens
as a result of this labeling.

Powerful individuals within societypoliticians, judges, police officers, medical doctors,

and so forthtypically impose the most significant labels. Labeled persons may include
drug addicts, alcoholics, criminals, delinquents, prostitutes, sex offenders, retarded
people, and psychiatric patients, to mention a few. The consequences of being labeled
as deviant can be farreaching. Social research indicates that those who have negative
labels usually have lower selfimages, are more likely to reject themselves, and may
even act more deviantly as a result of the label. Unfortunately, people who accept
the labeling of othersbe it correct or incorrecthave a difficult time changing their
opinions of the labeled person, even in light of evidence to the contrary.

Proponents of labeling theory support the theory's emphasis on the role that the
attitudes and reactions of others, not deviant acts per se, have on the development of
deviance. Critics of labeling theory indicate that the theory only applies to a small
number of deviants, because such people are actually caught and labeled as deviants.
Critics also argue that the concepts in the theory are unclear and thus difficult to test
scientifically.