SOCIOLOGY CRIME AND DEVIANCE: SUBCULTURAL THEORIES

  • Delinquency and Opportunity - Cloward and Ohlin

    People unable to achieve success legitimately may join a criminal, conflict or retreatist subculture, depending on their neighbourhood and own personality.
  • Delinquency and Drift - David Matza

    Young people wish to escape from the constraints of adults and may be easily led into trouble by their peers. They are rarely intent on a deviant career and become law abiding citizens again when adult responsibilities loom.
  • Adolescent Boys in East London - Peter Willmott

    Adolescent males in working class areas often get into trouble because they are hanging about in the streets looking for fun. This sometimes leads to law breaking that is highly visible so results in arrests. There is no evidence of subcultural values, simply a desire to relieve boredom.
  • The Drug Takers - Jock Young

    Participant observation showed that casual marijuana smokers of Notting Hill formed distinctive subculture of hard drugs when police activity put them under pressure.
  • Folk Devils and Moral Panics - Stanley Cohen

    Left wing study of deviancy amplification. Seaside fights between Mods and Rockers were exaggerated by a press with little other news. This encouraged troublemakers to join in and increased hostility between the groups.
  • Learning to Labour - Paul Willis

    Marxist study of working class lads who expected to follow their fathers into manual occupations. They saw no point in academic qualifications and formed an anti-school subculture.
  • What is to be Done About law and Order? - Lea and Young

    Left Realists identified three causes of crime as subculture, marginalisation and relative deprivation.