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Precis of Albert K. Cohen
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Delinquent boys: the culture of the gang, 1955, Free
Press, New York. ~™""
Chapter 1:
An unsolved problem in Juvenile delinquency
5X1
In this chapter Cohen suggests that previous theories of delinquency have
been one of two basic types: "cultural-transmission theories, or "psychogenic"
theories.
"Cultural-transmission" type.
Within each culture (knowledge, beliefs,
of social groups) there exist sub-groups, which have characteristics unique to
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values, codes, tastes, prejudices traditional to and transmitted by and to members
themselves.
Such characteristics constitute a sub-culture, having the property
that subcultures..." are acquired only by interaction with those who already
share and embody, in their belief and action, the cultural pattern."
Delinquency, in these theories, is the result of contact with delinquent
sub-cultures.
"Psychogenic" theories have two variants: Presence of an inborn anti-social
id, or existence of a problem of adjustment. In the first variation, delinquency
results from any condition the results of which include an "imperfect mastery of
the id."
In the second variant, a delinquent..."differs from the non-delinquent
in that he has frustrations, deprivations, insecurities, anxieties, guilt-feelings
or mental conflicts which differ in kind or degree from those of non-delinquent
children."
Cohen writes: "Psychogenic theories of both classes recognize the importance
of the child's social environment in producing the character structure or the
problem of adjustment, but give it (environment) relatively little weight in
determining the particular manner in which it finds expression." (p. 16).
Cohen further suggests that... "in the majority of cases psychogenic and
subcultural factors blend in a single causal process... the task of theory is to
determine the ways in which the two kinds of factors mesh or interact." (p. 17)
Chapter II:
Facts the theory must fit.
The content of the delinquent subculture:
The overall characteristics of this subculture: non-utilitarian,
malicious. negativistic. versatile.
Shared characteristics:
1.
short-run hedonism, group autonomy.
Non-utilitarian:
a.
"Stealing 'for the hell of it1 and apart from considerations of gain
and profit is a valued activity to which attaches glory, prowess, and profound
satisfaction."
b.
Criminal activities of delinquents frequently have no extrinsic value,
only valued in and of themselves.
Excerpt of Cohen, A. K., 1955: Delinquet Boys: The Culture of the Gang, New York (Free Press) 1955.
2.
3.
Malice:
a.
b.
"a delight in the defiance of taboos itself"
"gratuitous hostility"
c.
rules are to be flouted
Negativism:
a.
"the delinquent subculture is not only a set of rules, a design for
that it is defined by its 'negative polarity' to those norms."
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living which is different from or indifferent to or even in conflict with the
norms of the 'respectable' adult society. It would appear at least plausible
k.
(p. 28)
Versatility:
a.
Gangs tend not to 'specialize' in one form of crime, but to diversify
its delinquent behaviors.
b. "generalized, diversified, protean 'orneriness'... the vocation of the
delinquent gang."
5.
6.
Short-run hedonism:
a.
Common to social class of most delinquent boys
b.
c.
no goals, planning, budgeting, practice, deliberation, study
activities impulsive, unorganized, unsupervised, unscheduled
Group autonomy:
a.
b.
c.
intolerance of restraint by extra-group forces
intense solidarity and imperiousness within group
gang, not the individual is autonomous
Some attempts at explanation:
(Cohen here criticizes a number of theories.
His counter-arguments are given.)
1. Tradition: delinquent culture is "handed down" but this states the problem
rather than explaining the content and spirit of the subculture.
2.
Social disorganization: although interstitial areas of cities seem disorganized,
they do have social organization.
Even if these areas were "Jungles" there is
still no explanation of the origin, peculiar content, and style of delinquency.
3. Culture-conflict: Although the lack of cultural unity in interstitial areas
may subject child to conflicting norms, definitions, and values, this does not
explain why delinquency takes the forms it does. Although it may explain its
origins, this theory does not explain the positive code of the delinquent.
h.
Illicit-Means:
American emphasis on high status and the material objects
thereof may create drive of upward mobility which can be manifested by the
unprivileged only in delinquent activities. Delinquents are social climbing in
this fashion, having been barred from acceptable channels. This fails to explain
the dviKhltU
and destructiveness of most delinquent acts.
Excerpt of Cohen, A. K., 1955: Delinquet Boys: The Culture of the Gang, New York (Free Press) 1955.
The class distribution of the delinquent subculture:
After reviewing a number of statistical studies, Cohen concludes:
"It is our conclusion...that Juvenile delinquency and the delinquent
subculture in particular, are overwhelmingly concentrated in the male, working-
class sector of the Juvenile population."
A general theory of subcultures
Introduction:
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Chapter III:
(p. 37)
Presentation of the general principles of Cohen's subcultural model.
Action is problem-solving:
'Problem' here is used in the general sense; however, hard problems may be
of the psychiatric sense of producing tension, frustration, guilt, etc.
First, satisfying solutions to really hard problems "must entail some change
in (the) frame of reference..." or point of view of the individual.
The psychiatric
"defense mechanisms" are methods of changing this frame of reference.
Second, problems are distributed differently between various roles. The
social structure and immediate social milieu determine problems of adjustment and
the creation and selection of solutions.
Pressures toward conformity:
Constraints on possible solutions
1. Acceptability to social milieu on which person is dependent. Milieu
affects both the overt action of solution, and the boundaries of the frame of
reference within which possible solutions will fall.
If no solution is available to an individual in one social milieu, he is
likely to seek a subgroup that offers acceptance of amenable solutions to his
problems of adjustment.
How subcultural solutions arise:
The central theoretical problem is to explain how it is that in spite of
the powerful motivations to conform to the established patterns of culture,
cultural innovations emerge, and cultural models continually change.
"Crucial condition for emergence of new cultural forms is the existence,
in effective interaction with one another, of a number of actors with similar
problems of adjustment."
(p. 59)
Excerpt of Cohen, A. K., 1955: Delinquet Boys: The Culture of the Gang, New York (Free Press) 1955.
Although concurrence with large, rapid, dramatic changes is highly problematic,
and overt innovation anxiety producing, the parallel adjustment problems creates
a reinforcing atmosphere for exploratory gestures. Changes of cultural form
will come from small, tentative, ambiguous, suggestive, expressive actions which
are mutually reinforcing, and mutually enacted and received, in a process of
mutual exploration and Joint elaboration, for which no one actor is wholly
responsible. The final compromise formation of this diffuse "mutual conversion"
is an emergent cultural process.
"In this fashion culture is continually being created, re-created, and modified
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wherever individuals sense in one another like needs, generated by like circum
stances, not shared generally in the larger social system." (p. 65)
Subcultural solutions to status problems:
Status depends on norms and standards of others, i.e. the cultural frames of
reference. Creation of new status norms requires a group; an individual cannot
generate a subculture.
Some accompaniments of the cultural process:
Servicability and viability of subcultural solution entails group solidarity
and heightened interaction. If solution is unacceptable to larger group, subgroup
members must rely to a greater extent on each other for rewards, hence greater
isolation of subgroup, and acquisition of status in subgroup implies loss of
status in larger group.
Protective provocation of outgroup may turn those persons into enemies when
they react defensively, thereby Justifying ingroup ties and hostility to outgroup;
i.e. mixed-feelings of ingroup members are estimated, they become committed to
the deviant ingroup.
Chapter IV:
Growing up in a class system
The family is not the world:
The behavioral consequences of family membership depend on the social world
outside the family, the position of the family in the social structure determines
the experiences and the problems which all members of the family will encounter
in their dealings with the world outside the family.
Family is a major determinant of child's frame of reference, but social milieu
provides challenges, expectations, opportunities and barriers.
Families are units in a class system:
Family status is main determinant of the respect, deference, and power a
child commands. Child learns to make accurate and sophisticated class distinctions,
and attaches class status labels to personal attributes.
Excerpt of Cohen, A. K., 1955: Delinquet Boys: The Culture of the Gang, New York (Free Press) 1955.
Judging our children: the middle-class measuring rod:
"...where opportunities for achievement are class-linked, status discontent
will be generated to the degree that the status-system is democratic, to the degree
that the status universe is maximized (enlarged)."
(p. 86)
Middle-class norms are manifestations of the dominant American value system,
all children must Cof«- with them.
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Summary description of middle-class values:
1.
2.
3.
k.
Ambition is a virtue, high levels of aspiration
Ethic of individual responsibility, reliance, resourcefulness
High evaluation on skills and achievements
Wordly a-sceticism: postponement of immediate gratification
5.
Rationality
6.
7.
Manners, courtesy, personality
Control of physical aggression and violence
8.
9.
Recreation should be wholesome, constructive
Respect of property
Social classes as cultural settings:
(See Xerox for analysis of difficulties and contrasts of working-class adapting
to middle-class values).
Social classes as training groups:
Working-class children are less likely to be socialized in accord with middleclass values. Working-class socialization tends to be easy-going, unpremeditated,
expedient, permissive, unfocused, with punishment rather than dependency and loss
of love contingencies.
Resultant personality differences:
Socialization practices produce children who are young reflections of parents.
Middle class values and intelligence vary directly with class level. However,
within class variability is great, allowing for upward (and presumably downward,
FJS) movement between classes.
The bottom of the heap:problems of the working-class boy;
Working-class boy shares same cultural status as parents.
and perogatives of higher classes, has fewer avenues to status.
Lacks resources
High probability
of inferiority feelings, resentment, and hostility.
It is in school that invidious comparisons of status are most frequently made.
Teachers reinforce middleclass status for 3 reasons:
1.
2.
They are hired to foster such values
They hold such values themselves
3.
They are better able and more willing to have such values in their pupils.
Excerpt of Cohen, A. K., 1955: Delinquet Boys: The Culture of the Gang, New York (Free Press) 1955.
In general, the working-class person appears to be more
dependent upon and "at home" in primary groups and to
avoid secondary, segmental and formal relationships more
taneous, emotionally irrepressible and "anarchic," to give
freer and less disguisedtexpression to his aggression, and
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than the middle-class person. He appears to be more spon
to find itmore difficult to play roles with which he does not
basically identify|He is less likely to possess, to value or
to cultivate the polish, the sophistication, the fluency, the
"good appearance" and the "personality" so useful in
"selling oneself and manipulating others in the middleclass world.* _\
These are some of the ways in which the working-class
so
boy is less likely than the middle-class boy to find the mid
dle-class norms which we have described exemplified and
taken for granted in the models provided by his family and
neighborhood. To this extent he is less likely to identify
with those norms, to "make them his own^ and to be able
to conform to them easily and "naturally."
<<'
,,«./«.
i-.
.
1**1.
Excerpt of Cohen, A. K., 1955: Delinquet Boys: The Culture of the Gang, New York (Free Press) 1955.
In this process of being evaluated against the total ability range, the workingclass boy is frequently found to be inferior.
To the degree to which the working-class boy values middle-class status, he
faces a problem of adjustment and is in the market for a "solution."
Chapter V:
A delinquent solution
What the delinquent subculture has to offer:
The delinquent subculture deals with the working-class boy's problems by
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providing criteria of status which he can meet.
The degree of status failure will depend on the status universe and the
status source.
However, American society emphasizes democratic standards, thus
enlarging the relevant status universe, and sells the idea of middle-class values.
Even working-class people are status ambivalent as a result of these pressures,
and are likely to manifest some desire to attain middle-class status in some way.
One means of resolving this status ambivalence is for the working-class boy
to become, in W. H. Whyte's terms, a "college-boy" rather than a "corner-boy"
i.e. to adopt middle-class values wholesale and aspire to middle-class status.
Another response is the "stable corner-boy response" which maintains good
relations with working-class society and workable relations with the middle-class.
Corner-boy does not allow middle-class norms to interfer with corner-boy norms.
Corner-boy culture temporizes with middle-class morality.
Third response is delinquency: total rejection of middle class values and
morality. Norms are defined by negative polarity of middle class norms, non
conformity to middle-class values insures high status in delinquent subculture.
Legitimatizes aggression against middle class, permits resolution of frustrations
directly. To the degree that some middle class norms may still be working, reaction-
formation will intensify the delinquency, taking the form of irrational, malicious,
unaccountable hostility.
Property disrespect emphasizes the rejection of middle-
class values and strivings.
The presence of a community of delinquents give such behavior legitimacy and
respectability for its members.
Group interaction releases potentialities not
otherwise visable.
What about the sex differences?:
Girls may undergo similar dynamics as those described above, but their sex
role allows for solutions to status ambivalence not permitted boys. Girls can
resolve status problems by establishing appropriate relations with opposite sex.
The delinquent subculture and the delinquent individual:
The delinquent subculture may help solve more than one problem of adjustment
for the individual, and his participation may be motivated by more than one need.
However, the delinquent subculture has a common core of status discontent
which provides the common ground for the coalition of the delinquent gang. Other
needs of the individuals do not give rise to the delinquent subculture.
Excerpt of Cohen, A. K., 1955: Delinquet Boys: The Culture of the Gang, New York (Free Press) 1955.
Regarding the individual, status incongruity or status failure may have great
Importance for the occurrence of delinquent behavior.
Middle-class delinquency:
Parsons has suggested that due to the structure of the modern family and
occupational system children of both sexes tend to form early feminine identifica
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Since it is not known to what extent middle-class delinquency is similar to
subcultural delinquency, the relations between the two cannot be explicated exactly.
Middle-class delinquents may feel some measure of status incongruence. Or they
may have entirely different problems requiring subcultural groups.
tions. In the boys this produces status incongruence which may lead to a rejection
of the norms inculcated by the mother. In the middle-class this "masculine protest"
may be accentuated, due to smaller family, less contact with male model figures,
less movement outside family circle, prolonged dependence on parents. This implies
the common core of any middle-class delinquent subculture would be a basic anxiety
about sex-role identification.
The failure of research:
The "known facts" about delinquent subcultures are insufficient.
Problems
with research:
1. Limitations inherent in official data on Juvenile delinquency. Poorly
sampled from Juvenile population. Representative samples and data are required.
2.
Refined analysis of acts of delinquency is needed.
3.
Delinquent groups should be studied as social systems.
Delinquency control:
Questions of means and values, trade-offs between possible gains and costs.
Complexity of dealing with problems in a web of interdependencies. "We are not
prepared to issue pronouncements and we are not at all sure where the road might
lead." (p. 178)
Excerpt of Cohen, A. K., 1955: Delinquet Boys: The Culture of the Gang, New York (Free Press) 1955.