SUBCULTURAL EXPLANATIONS
FOR CRIME & DEVIANCE
G674
SUBCULTURAL EXPLANATIONS
 What
is a subculture?
 In
pairs, list as many examples of UK
youth subcultures as you can: They can
be historic or contemporary.
 How
do each differ from ‘mainstream’
society?
 How
many of the subcultures you have
listed have been associated with
criminal behaviour (e.g. in the media)?
SUBCULTURAL EXPLANATIONS
The sorts of subcultures we have mentioned are
referred to as spectacular subcultures.
 This is because they are easily recognisable (by
their style) and distinct from other groups.


Subcultural explanations do not just refer to
these types. They refer to any group that
assembles within a society, possessing different
norms and values to wider society.
RECAP



Describe strain theory.
Although not a subcultural theory itself, strain
theory was extremely influential on early
subcultural explanations for crime.
Describe status frustration.
GANGS...
YouTube - London Gangs – UK
Discuss: Why does the film suggest young people
get involved in gangs?
THE ILLEGITIMATE
OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURE
Cloward & Ohlin (1960)
CLOWARD & OHLIN (1960):
THE ILLEGITIMATE OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURE



They agreed with Merton’s strain theory, but...
...Merton had argued that society does not
provide the opportunities for many people to
achieve cultural goals...
...Cloward & Ohlin thought that Merton had
ignored the existence of an illegitimate
opportunity structure. In other words, there
are plenty of non-legal opportunities to achieve
cultural goals.
DISCUSS


Cloward & Ohlin believe that you can attain all
the socially desired goals (nice house, car, wealth,
relationships, power etc.) through behaving
illegally.
How could you do this?
THE ILLEGITIMATE OPPORTUNITY
STRUCTURE
Cloward & Ohlin believe a person can have a fulltime career as a criminal, achieving all the
things that non-criminals have.
 They believed there were three subcultural
forms of this...

THE ILLEGITIMATE OPPORTUNITY
STRUCTURE
1.
2.
3.
Criminal Subculture
Conflict Subculture
Retreatist Subculture
For those seeking a criminal career, the type of
subculture available will largely depend on
where they live, who they know and what
other opportunities are available.
Which
subculture
should you
join?
Get a job
then, cheeky.
Do you live in
a high crime
area?
Yes
No
No
Are the criminals
successful and wealthy
or are they thuggish
little s@!#s?
Successful!
Are you really
too lazy to get
a job?
Yes
Thugs
No
Criminal!
Do you like
fighting, random
brutality and
acting like a bit of
road is your
‘territory?’
Retreatist
Conflict
Yes
THE ILLEGITIMATE OPPORTUNITY
STRUCTURE



Criminal Subculture – tends to be organised
criminals; those who can earn a good living
through crime...
Conflict Subculture – tends to be criminal
(youth) gangs. Gain power and status through
violence...
Retreatist Subculture – ‘Double failures’ –
can’t make their way through crime or violence, so
‘retreat’ into drugs or alcohol, funded by a bit of
petty crime...
CRITICISMS


In reality, deviant subcultures cannot be slotted
so neatly into three categories...
Again, C&O were white, middle-class male
Americans. Do their theories translate to the UK
(or anywhere else?). Are they in a position to
really understand the lives of ‘criminals’?
STATUS FRUSTRATION
A.K. Cohen (1955)
RECAP


What have we already discussed about status
frustration?
Where does it originate, and what are some
criticisms of the theory?
STATUS FRUSTRATION



Cohen’s work was the first time the concept of
subculture was explicitly used.
Again, he was inspired by Merton’s work – but
wanted to go further in explaining crimes with no
economic reward (e.g. Vandalism).
He identified that subcultures offer inverted
values that enable their members to attain
status through alternative means.
OTHER WORK INSPIRED BY
STRAIN THEORY
NIGHTINGALE (1993):
THE PARADOX OF INCLUSION
Black children
consume US
culture...
They want to be a
part of it; to have
the clothes, labels,
status, lifestyle etc.
The Paradox of Inclusion:
By wanting to be included in
US culture, black youths end up
excluding themselves through
turning to crime.
But economically,
racially and
politically they are
excluded...
So they find other
ways of getting those
things and showing
their status...
...and as a result,
end up even
more excluded!
BOURGOIS (2002): EL BARRIO, NY
Studied drug dealers in this deprived part of
NYC...
 ...Found that they too believed in the American
Dream and the values of their subcultures
were not different from mainstream values.
 The only difference was that their ‘job’ was
dealing drugs – but they wanted the same things
as everyone else.

FOCAL CONCERNS
Miller (1962)
FOCAL CONCERNS


Miller disagreed that there are specific values or
‘inverted’ values that lead to crime.
He suggested that crime and deviance are
actually linked to male working class culture.
Recap: What study did we discuss at AS
regarding working-class culture?
What features of that culture were identified?
THE ‘FOCAL CONCERNS’ OF WORKINGCLASS CULTURE






Smartness
(Looking good and being street-smart and witty)
Trouble
(Not running away from a fight...)
Excitement
(Always on the look-out for a quick thrill)
Toughness
(Demonstrate how strong you are)
Autonomy
(refuse to be pushed around by authority)
Fate
(Accept what will be will be!)
FOCAL CONCERNS


For Miller, young working-class males are a
‘subculture’ in themselves.
These focal concerns they possess lead them
towards crime and deviance.
ACTIVITY


Examine the two studies on the handout in pairs
and answer the questions provided.
Feed back to class.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING (AND NO,
WE’RE NOT WATCHING IT IN CLASS)
MATZA (1964)
Subterranean Values & Drift
MATZA


Disagrees with the notion of organised,
subcultural responses.
We all possess some deviant (‘subterranean’)
values, but most of the time, we keep them in
check.
DISCUSS

For Matza, subterranean values refer to the
desire to do bad things.
In pairs, list a minimum of FIVE possible
subterranean values that most people have…
…For each, identify at least one technique
that might be used to control this urge.
MATZA


Claimed that young people have a harder time
keeping their subterranean values in check that
older people.
This can lead to deviant behaviour, although
when it does, they use techniques of
neutralisation to justify their deviant actions.
DISCUSS
How many people here have done something
illegal or immoral over the past few weeks?
Explain: WHY
TECHNIQUES OF NEUTRALISATION
Denial of responsibility
 Denial of victim
 Denial of injury
 Condemnation of condemners
 Appeal to higher loyalties

TECHNIQUES OF NEUTRALISATION:
MATCH
“I was stealing from Tesco; they’re a big company,
they can afford it!”
 “It wasn’t my fault; I was drunk!”
 “They slagged off my family, so I had to do
something!”
 “It was her own fault; she led me on!”
 “The police are far more violent towards people
than I was!”

Discuss: What other excuses do young people
use for their deviant behaviour?
DRIFT THEORY
Despite all having subterranean values, not
every young person commits crimes...
 A youth is not yet an adult, but not a child...this
can make some feel lacking in control and not
feeling bonded to society...
 ...This can cause some to drift into
crime/deviance, to show control.
 But it is not a criminal career: They drift out of
crime/deviance again when other responsibilities
come along.

CRITICISMS OF MATZA



Do his theories apply equally to females?
The whole concept of drift is a little vague? Why
does committing a criminal/deviant act give
young people a sense of control?
Doesn’t take into account economic/social factors
that might drive young people to crime.
MARXIST SUBCULTURAL
THEORIES
(You can also use this stuff in a question on
Marxism!!!)
CCCS
Brake (1980)
 Young, working-class males commit crimes as a
form of resistance to capitalism.


This resistance is expressed through subcultures,
whose style and language express their hatred
for capitalism.
For many, this resistance is a magical solution
(an illusion: they think it’ll solve their problems,
but it won’t!)
RESEARCH (SMALL GROUPS)

Choose one subculture and research the origins
of the subculture and its style.
CRITICISMS OF THE MARXIST
APPROACH


Stan Cohen (1980) claims the Marxists are
biased; they carefully select the evidence to link
subcultures to capitalism.
Blackman (1995) claims that the idea that
subcultures are linked to class is a media
invention: In reality, the origins of subcultures
are much more varied.
INTERACTIONIST SUBCULTURAL
THEORIES
...We’ve already covered these, but just to recap...
INTERACTIONIST SUBCULTURAL
THEORY – HOWARD BECKER
1963
Deviant act
Labelling
Outsider status
Delinquent subculture
STUDIES
Jock Young – police
labelling of Hippies
Stan Cohen – media
labelling of Mods and
Rockers
POSTMODERNIST THEORIES
POSTMODERNIST VIEWS


Young males do not get drawn into subcultures
because of rejection but because it is thrilling.
According to Lyng (1990), they like to take risks
and to engage in edgework - going to the ‘edge’
of acceptable behaviour; flirting with danger.
POSTMODERNIST VIEWS


The notion of subcultures can be replaced by the
notion of Neo-tribes (Maffesoli; 1996).
There are no deviant values as such. Neo-tribes
are united by states of mind and lifestyles which
are flexible, fluid and changing. They are focused
on consumption, fashion and individuality.
WRITTEN TASK
Outline and evaluate subcultural
explanations for crime [50]
http://www.bmetv.net/video/2393/this-isengland-full-movie