Subcultural theories of why we break the rules. Age, crime and deviance. Subcultural theories of why we break the rules.

According to the Ministry of Justice, in April 2009 there were 2,126 15-17 year olds and 9,497 18-20 year olds held in custody in England and Wales. These are down 12% and 1% respectively year-on-year. According to the Prison Reform Trust, over two-thirds are expected to re-offend within two years of release, with over 40% returning to prison. With men, the reconviction rate rises to 82%.

Poor attainment at school, truancy and school exclusion. Peer group pressure. Drug or alcohol misuse and mental illness. No responsibilities so focused on self-gratification. Bullying and alienation. Lack of discipline at home and in school. Hyperactivity. Reasons why young people are more likely to be involved in criminal activity… Troubled home life: violence and/or bad communication between parents and teenagers. Learning problems. Money problems. Deprivation such as poor housing or homelessness. Potentially dodgier lifestyle.

According to a 1998 MORI survey of 11-16 year olds, reported in the Youth Justice Board’s ‘Annual Report’, only seven out of 10 school children can say with certainty that they have not offended in the past year and a quarter (24%) admit to committing an offence during that time. However, only one in six of those who admitted offending said their last offence had been detected by the police. In its ‘Crime Reduction Strategy’, the Government estimates that young people under 18 commit around seven million offences a year.

* Researchers from University of Glamorgan interviewed offenders in prisons and young offenders’ institutions. * They investigated a variety of violent offences, such as carjacking, street robbery, snatch thefts and certain kinds of aggravated burglaries, along with retaliatory, dispute-related, gang and disrespect violence. * In particular, they looked at the role played by factors such as street culture. * This study involved semi-structured interviews with 120 offenders (89 male and 31 female) serving sentences for violent offences in prisons and young offenders’ institutions in England and Wales. The majority were aged 26 or over and white, with 10 per cent defining themselves as black, 12 per cent as mixed race, and just one as Asian.

• Mean number of previous arrests = 45, one-third arrested 50 times or more. Previous convictions = 23, and more than a quarter said they had been convicted of 30 or more offences. • Overall, 92 per cent had used illegal drugs. • About a quarter (23 per cent) said that they were members of gangs or involved in them in some way. • A further 11 per cent said they sometimes offended in groups, but did not define them as gangs. In total, one-third said that they were involved in gangs or criminal groups.

• More than a quarter (28 per cent) said that they had carried a firearm of some sort, including air guns and replica guns. An additional 35 per cent said that they carried some other weapon - usually a knife. • Early analysis identified five main motives for street robbery: ‘good times/partying’, ‘keeping up appearances/flash cash’, ‘buzz/excitement’, ‘anger/desire to fight’, and ‘informal justice/righting wrongs’.

• More detailed analysis revealed a range of individual and social benefits, including status and respect within the peer group. This is part of an emerging street culture in Britain that in some ways resembles its American counterpart. • Some offenders went out alone with the intention to rob an easy target in order to buy drugs. Some robbed in groups or gangs for excitement, while others stole from individuals who had wronged them in some way, as a form of retaliation. • Evidence collected so far suggests that being involved in street life and certain forms of street culture is an important factor in understanding violent street crime.

Task Answer the following questions 1. Why do you think the culture of these offenders is of interest? 2. What norms and values were expressed by the offenders when they were interviewed? 3. Why do you think they re-offended? 4. List at least three strengths or weaknesses of this research - GROVER

Walter B Miller He wrote delinquent boys. 1955. Miller does not see deviant behaviour occurring due to the inability of the lower class groups to achieve success. Instead, he explains crime in terms of the existence of a distinctive lower class subculture – it’s not a reaction to poverty; it’s a way of life. KEY CONCEPT: lower class subculture; focal concerns; toughness; smartness; excitement; fate; trouble; peer status.

I’ll teach my kids to fight, have a laugh and be streetwise. He believes that this lower class group has for centuries possessed their own culture and traditions which are totally different from those in the higher classes. This thus suggests that this lower class culture has been passed on not by one generation but for much longer than this. I’ve taught my lad to duck and dive, laugh at the police and drink White Lightening in parks. I’ll teach my kids to fight, have a laugh and be streetwise.

What are the Focal Concerns of this working class subculture? Toughness: this involves a concern for masculinity and finds expression in courage in the face of physical threat and a rejection of timidity and weakness. In practice this can result in assault, and battery as the group attempt to maintain their ‘reputation’. I’m a geezer. Come and have a go.

Excitement: Involves the search for ‘thrills’, for emotional stimulus Excitement: Involves the search for ‘thrills’, for emotional stimulus. In practice it is sought in gambling, sexual adventures and booze, which can be obtained by a traditional night out on the town.

Smartness: this involves the ‘capacity to outfox, outwit, dupe, take others. Groups that use these techniques, include the hustler, conman, and the cardsharp, the pimp and pickpocket and petty thief.

Fate: They believe that little can be done about their lives – and what will be will be; they have no power to change anything. I’ll prob’ly be in prison in a couple of years. Life’s pretty crap, so I’ve nothing to loose. There’s nowt to do except play with my own dribble.

Trouble: young working class males accept their lives will involve violence, and they will not run away from fights.

We walk the same, dress the same and live life the same... Miller notes that two factors tend to emphasise and exaggerate the focal concerns of the lower class subculture. A peer group that demands close conformity to group norms 2. Youngsters in terms of the peer status and norms achieve status. We walk the same, dress the same and live life the same... It’s my mission to make people scared of me. It’s the only way I’ll gain respect seeing as I’ll never get power or status in a job.

SCY6 Crime & Deviance: Structural/subcultural theories Albert Cohen He wrote delinquent boys. 1955. This is a structural theory because it argues that criminal behaviour is the result of an individual’s place in the social class structure. KEY CONCEPT: non-utilitarian crime; cultural deprivation; status frustration; delinquent subculture.

These guys give me the only chance of excitement and status. SUMMARY OF STUDY: He argues that delinquency is a collective rather than an individual response to status frustration and their position in the class structure. These guys give me the only chance of excitement and status.

Why do I like to just ruin things for no money? Cohen argues Merton doesn’t discuss non-utilitarian crime such as joy riding and vandalism so he sets out to explain this type of crime. Why do I like to just ruin things for no money?

According to Cohen, working class boys aspire to the cultural goals of mainstream society but because of their cultural deprivation and ensuing educational failure, they are denied access to these cultural goals. Hated school, failed everything, no job, can’t live a normal life. For me, crime pays.

Working class boys experience status frustration because they are stuck at the bottom of the stratification system with most avenues to success blocked. I sit around all day wi’ nowt to do, no money and no dignity. I’ve nothing to loose.

So we get wasted in the stairwell of our council flat block, instead. They resolve their status frustration by rejecting the success goals of mainstream culture and replacing them with an alternative set that they can achieve within a delinquent subculture in which they can achieve status & prestige. It’s a collective response to the problems of working class teenagers. So we get wasted in the stairwell of our council flat block, instead. We haven’t got a chance in hell of being invited to a cocktail party...

...so we’re going to do exactly the opposite. “The delinquent subculture takes its norms from the larger culture but turns them upside down”. Teachers and the papers want us to get jobs, be polite, try hard at school and be nice to old ladies... ...so we’re going to do exactly the opposite.

RESEARCH METHOD: this was a theoretical study. WEAKNESSES: Box questions Cohen’s assumption that working class boys originally subscribe to mainstream goals and values (what about underclass culture?) His analysis ignores working class delinquent girls altogether. Matza backs up Box’s critique by arguing that not all delinquents are strongly opposed to the values of mainstream values, they tend to drift in and out of mainstream society’s moral bind.

SCY6 Crime & Deviance: Structural/subcultural theories Cloward & Ohlin They wrote Delinquency & Opportunity, (1961). KEY CONCEPT: legitimate opportunity structure; illegitimate opportunity structure; criminal subcultures; conflict subcultures; retreatist subcultures; utilitarian crime; non-utilitarian crime.

SUMMARY OF STUDY: They focused on how peoples’ opportunities to be deviant are also different: not everyone gets the same chances to be crooks; some have better opportunities to enter into a criminal career, particularly if they have access to a criminal subculture. Can you take my son under your wing? I want him to know everything there is to know about protection racketeering.

By examining access to, and opportunity for entry into, illegitimate opportunity structures, they provide explanations for different forms of deviance.

They begin by arguing that there is greater pressure on the working class to commit crime because they have limited access to the legitimate opportunity structure of education and careers. So we’ve no chance of getting work. We were all expelled from school. We’ve got time and no self-respect and that’s why we get up to no good.

Depending on their access to the illegitimate opportunity structure, young people can enter into one of three deviant subcultures: Criminal subcultures are established and organized criminal networks which provide a learning environment for young criminals from criminal role models. They are largely concerned with utilitarian crime that derives financial rewards.

Conflict subcultures develop in areas of limited access to either the legitimate or the illegitimate opportunity structures. There is little organized adult crime to provide an apprenticeship in criminality. These are usually areas of high turnover of population and have little social unity or informal social control. Gang violence is a predominant response.

I’ve no qualifications, no job and no future in the normal world... Retreatist subcultures have failed to succeed in both the legitimate and illegitimate opportunity structures and are therefore double failures. Their activities centre mainly around illegal drug abuse. I’ve no qualifications, no job and no future in the normal world... And we’re too soft and stupid to be gangsters. So we just get wasted instead.

RESEARCH METHOD: this was a theoretical study that combined the ideas of both Merton and Cohen. WEAKNESSES: Burke identifies three main criticisms of their work: 1) the idea of the criminal subculture is based on gangs in Chicago in the 1920s and 30s so isn’t particularly applicable to modern British society; 2) their theory is based on the false assumption that the working class is a united, homogenous group; 3) the idea of retreatist subcultures is a ‘grossly simplistic’ explanation of drug abuse which is actually really common among middle class people.

SCY6 Crime & Deviance: Structural/subcultural theories Charles Murray He wrote underclass. 1989. KEY CONCEPT: underclass; welfare dependency;

SUMMARY OF STUDY: Murray argues that crime is a cultural phenomenon – among particular groups that share deviant norms and values.

He focuses on the underclass; a group in society that are at the bottom of the socio-economic structure as they do not and cannot participate in mainstream cultural activities such as education and / or employment and are instead, reliant upon the welfare state.

He does not accept the idea that the underclass share the same morals and values as the rest of mainstream society. When we grow up, we want good jobs and nice houses. When we grow up, we want to go on the dole and rob your houses.

Murray sees the underclass as responsible for a high proportion of crime and explains their criminality in terms of their rejection of mainstream norms and values.

The over-generous payments of the welfare state have made it possible for young women to see single motherhood as a lifestyle choice and for young men to cast away the idea that they should be a breadwinner.

Children are brought up in an underclass culture that deviates away from the mainstream ideals of individual responsibility and morality. So this is a cultural explanation of crime as people are brought up to hold underclass and therefore deviant norms and values.

RESEARCH METHOD: this was a theoretical study. WEAKNESSES: Not everyone on benefits is persistently welfare dependent – most go out and find employment. What about white collar crime? The underclass only make up a very small proportion of the British population so it can’t be used as a general cultural explanation of crime.

SCY6 Crime & Deviance: Structural/subcultural theories David Matza He wrote delinquency & drift. KEY CONCEPT: juvenile delinquency; subterranean values; techniques of neutralization; mood of humanism; mood of fatalism;

This American sociologist has attacked some of the assumptions on which sub-cultural and structural theories are based, and provided his own explanation. Matza claimed that delinquents are similar to everyone else in their values and voice similar feelings of outrage about crime in general as the majority of society. Matza’s theory also brings in an element of the action approach, which focuses on the way behaviour is adaptable and flexible and involves dimensions of choice and free will.

Thus Matza is suggesting that male delinquents to be… committed to the same values and norms as other members of society. Society has a strong hold on them and prevents them from being delinquent, most of the time. He exemplifies this point by noting that delinquents often express ‘regret’ and ‘remorse’ at what they have done. And when in ‘training school’ shows disapproval to crimes such as mugging, armed robbery, fighting with weapons and car crime.

I feel like being naughty today. Far from being deviant this group are...casually, intermittently, and transiently immersed in a pattern of illegal activity to put it into Matza’s words. They drift into deviant activities. In other words, there is a lot of spontaneity and impulsiveness in deviant actions. I’m BORED. I feel like being naughty today.

Subterranean Values The first point that Matza made is that we all hold two levels of values. 1. Conventional Values, roles such as father, occupation 2. Subterranean Values values of sexuality, greed and aggressiveness. These are however, generally controlled, but we all hold them, and we all do them.

Matza thus suggests that delinquents are simply more likely than most of us to behave according to subterranean values in ‘inappropriate’ situations.

Techniques of Neutralisation If delinquents are as much committed to conventional values as anyone else and, furthermore, express condemnation of crimes similar to the ones they themselves commit, why do they commit them at all? Matza suggests that delinquents justify their own crimes as exceptions to the rule. ‘Yes, what I did was wrong, but...’ They are thus able to convince themselves that the law does not apply to them on this particular occasion. We’re not at school cos it’s boring and it won’t do us any good. We know it’s wrong and that, but we don’t need to go.

Techniques of Neutralization: Denial of responsibility for the deviant act – the delinquents may remove responsibility from themselves by blaming their parents or the area in which they live. Denial of injury – resulting from the act – the delinquents may argue that joy-riding does not harm anyone, it is just a bit of mischief and that they were borrowing the car. Denial of that the act was basically wrong – an assault on a homosexual (‘Queer Bashing’ was ubiquitous in the 1980s) or attack on an expensive shop seen as ‘rough justice’. Condemnation of those who make the rules – the police may be seen as corrupt or teachers as unjust hypocrits. Appeal to higher loyalties - the delinquents may argue that they broke the law not out of self interest but to help family or friends.

He deserved a slap, that’s what happens when you’re queer. Chill, the bloke got his car back. No harm done. Mum didn’t get our giro this week, so I got us some beers in. Didn’t actually pay for ‘em, mind. The bizzies are constantly picking on me so of course I chucked a brick at their van. I smashed up the phone box because my mum’s giving me a hard time.

1. Subculture 2. lower class subculture 3. focal concerns 4. peer status 5. non-utilitarian crime 6. cultural deprivation 7. status frustration 8. delinquent subculture 9. legitimate opportunity structure 10. illegitimate opportunity structure 11. criminal subcultures 12. conflict subcultures 13. retreatist subcultures 14. utilitarian crime 15. underclass 16. welfare dependency 17. edgework 18. paradox of inclusion 19. ASBO

What is meant by the concept of subculture? A social group that supports norms and values that are different from mainstream culture, usually because members of the group are non-achievers in mainstream society. What type of crime does subcultural theory focus on? Juvenile delinquency. What is the central goal which people attempt to attain in modern societies, according to Albert Cohen? Status – feelings of self-worth or esteem, both in the eyes of others and the individual. Why are working class boys more likely to fail at school, according to Cohen? Parents fail to equip them with the necessary skills.

How do they compensate for the disaffection they feel? Why does Cohen blame education as well as parents for working class delinquency? Schools deny working class children status by placing them in bottom streams/sets and labelling them as failures. What concept does Cohen suggest to explain the disaffection of working class boys? Status frustration. How do they compensate for the disaffection they feel? They form anti-school subcultures and award status to each other on the basis of anti-school and delinquent activities. What alternative sociological term can be used for delinquent subcultures that reverse social norms and values? Counter cultures.

His view suggests that all working class parents are inadequate. How might you use Paul Willis’s study of working class lads to criticise Cohen’s ideas? The lads chose to fail and engage in delinquent activities because they saw qualifications as irrelevant to their futures, rather than because they had experienced status frustration. What criticism might be made of the way that Cohen views working class parenting? His view suggests that all working class parents are inadequate. What role do working class girls play in Cohen’s analysis? He ignores working class girls altogether. How might the concept of drift be used to criticise subcultural theory? Young people often drift between conformity and deviance.

How does Walter B Miller view lower class culture? It is ‘naturally’ deviant, in that it subscribes to values and norms that are likely to lead to confrontation with mainstream middle class society. Why do lower-class youths engage in crime, according to Miller? To compensate for the boredom of the working class experience of school and work. Give three examples of the focal concerns that lead to juvenile delinquency, according to Miller’s theory. Toughness and aggression; looking for excitement; being streetwise; being very masculine; autonomy; fatalism etc. What does Matza mean when he criticises subcultural theory for over-predicting delinquency? It implies that all working class youth is involved in delinquency, but in reality, only a small minority is.

What are subterranean values and who has them? Values such as the need for excitement or to be outrageous and most people subscribe to this. Why is labelling theory critical of subcultural theory? Powerless groups, such as working class and ethnic minorities are more likely to be stereotyped as criminal or deviant for behaviour that most groups engage in. What is meant by the paradox of inclusion? Black youths are excluded from society, but over-compensate by identifying themselves with consumer culture through buying high-status material goods and logos. Why do Postmodernists reject subcultural theory for being too rational? There are no rational reasons, such as status frustration or rejection, for delinquency – delinquency is an irrational behaviour.

What do postmodernists mean when they say that crime is ‘seductive’? Young males quite simply get involved in delinquency because it’s thrilling. What does Lyng mean when he describes delinquency as ‘edgework’? Delinquency involves danger and taking risks – going to the edge of acceptable behaviour. Why might feminists be critical of subcultural theories of delinquency? Subcultural theory generally ignores female delinquency.