Functionalist - subcultural strain theories - Cohen
- Created by: Rebecca-Hall123
- Created on: 08-03-15 14:46
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- Functionlist -Cohen; Subcultural Theory
- Agrees with merton that deviance is largely a lower-class phenomenon
- Criticises Merton's explanation on two grounds;
- Agrees with merton that deviance is largely a lower-class phenomenon
- Merton sees deviance as an individual response to strain - ignoring the fact that most deviance is committed in groups
- Merton focuses on utilitarian crime, largely ignoring crime such as assault and vandalism
- Focuses on deviance among working class boys
- Argues they face anomie in middle-class dominated school systems
- Suffer from cultural deprivation and lack skills to achieve
- Their inablity to succeed leaves them at the bottom of the official status hierarchy.
- As a result boys suffer status frustration.
- They resolve frustration by joining or forming a delinquent subculture
- Reject mainstream middle class values
- Alternative Status Heirachy
- The delinquent subculture inverts the values of mainstream society
- The subcultures function is to offer the boys and alternative status hierarchy which they can achieve
- Boys create their own illegitimate opportunitystructure
- gain staus from peers through delinquent actions
- Evaluation
- Strengths
- offers an explanation of non-utilitarian crime
- Weaknesses
- Coehn assumes working class boys start off sharing middle class goals
- ignores the possibility that they never shared those goals in the first place
- Strengths
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