Albert Cohen's Meaning Of Delinquent Subcultures

The predominate theory of the social structure perspective that will be applied to Boyz N the Hood is Robert Merton’s Anomie/Strain theory and Robert Agnew’s General Strain theory which closely applies to Merton’s. The strain theory holds that crime is a function of the conflict between goals people have and the means that they can use to obtain them legally. Most people desire wealth, material possessions, power, prestige, and other life comforts. Although these social and economic goals are common to people in all economic standings, strain theorists insist these goals are class dependent. Members of the lower class are unable to achieve these goals of success through conventional or legal means. In return they feel anger, frustration, and resentment, which is referred to as the “strain.” Lower class citizens can either accept their conditions and live out their days being socially responsible or they can choose alternate means of achieving success illegally. These means can include but are not limited to theft, violence, or drug trafficking.

Social class is based on the relationship one has to the elements of society, and as children in the American education system grow and develop, it is a plausible query that these education systems might be the starting point to where social class based relationships such as people, ownership, and productive activity are fostered. In social activist and American professor Jean Anyon’s essay “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work”, the relation to social class and the established cycle of education systems is the main topic that Anyon aims to dissect and argue. Through extensive observation research, Anyon studies the behavior and curriculum taught at working-class, middle-class, affluent professional, and executive elite schools

For years, gang crime has been loathed by society, as society has perceived it to threaten the well-being of its members. In addition to the fear of gang violence, concerns have been raised of gangs polluting youth; hence, policing strategies have emerged more increasingly in an attempt to put an end to the delinquency. Nevertheless, for society the causation of gang crime has been discussed to a lesser extent; thus, the objective of this essay will be to depict a viable explanation of gang crime through the use of two criminological theories. To accomplish the task at hand; I shall, define gang crime, provide a description of social disorganization theory, illustrate how the application of social disorganization theory provides an explanation of gang crime, describe differential opportunity theory, demonstrate how differential opportunity theory can explain gang crime, and exemplify as to which theory provides a superior explanation of gang crime. In the end, it will be clear that social disorganization theory is a superior explanation of gang crime in comparison to differential opportunity theory, due to its ability to deliver a more enhanced explanation than the one that is provided by differential opportunity theory.

The documentary Crips and the Bloods: Made in America tells the dramatic story of the perpetual gang violence that runs the streets of Los Angeles, California. Gaining an inside look at how and why this violence is continued, the video focuses on the individuals that are affected by the gangs. Families are torn apart due to endless murders, children are taught to hate and act violently towards their neighbors, and people lose their soul to the gangs that they call their families. Of course every person must make a choice to engage in this sort of life, but sometimes these people are put into situations where there are no other options. In order to further think about what has caused and maintained the violence in the LA area, we can look towards Agnew’s General Strain Theory and the Labeling Theory.

The Elijah Anderson’s article, “Code of the Streets” is a perfect illustration for cultural arguments because it involves environments that are susceptible to learning a criminal culture; even up to a point of promoting that type of criminal behavior as “normal”. It also has links to Differential Association and Social Learning theories of crime

Who has more problems: the affluent kids or the less civilized kids? Many people make the assumption that the upper class is sure to have less issues than the destitutions, because they are rich. In the book, The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton shows that both the upper and lower class experience different dilemmas. Hinton also emphasizes how the Greasers and Socs may have came from different backgrounds aren’t really differentiable. In the Outsiders, S.E. Hinton’s characterizations of individual Greasers and Socs reveal that both rich and poor kids face problems and feel trapped by their social statuses.

In the book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, embarks on a story of a young boy Greaser, his gang, the rivalry with the Socs, and how it all ended. The main theme of The Outsider was social class. Socs have wealth that helps them through life and their parents have enough money to do anything for them Greasers do not have an education, and that’s true because they don’t have enough money and the privilege to get a good education. On the other hand, Socs don’t have to worry about not having a bad education because they can afford an education. Although greasers can the opportunity to stop and smell the roses, Socs have everything in life needed, they don’t have the cherishable life they wish for. Hinton notifies, through the text, the main reason for the gang’s separation is because of their social class and expectations.

In the 1950’s, Cohen (1955) took Merton’s theory of crime further by focusing on gang delinquency within the working class demographic. Cohen used the central idea of the anomie theory but narrowed its focus on this particular subculture and elaborated it in order to explain the characteristics of gang delinquency.

In this paper, I will analysis the film Boyz N the Hood based on and around the criminology concept of the General Strain Theory. The film Boyz N the Hood depicts a story about an African-American boy growing up in “the hood” of South Central LA. South Central is a place where on average 1 out of 21 African American men will be die as a result of “the streets”. African Americans within the African-American community are more susceptible to becoming a casualty to gang affiliation and violence. If a person makes the wrong choices in life or even if they are faced with the right circumstances that force this person to join a gang their likelihood of dying as a result dramatically increases.

The corner boy is the most common response. They are not chronically delinquent but may be involved in petty or status offenses. He is loyal to his peers and eventually becomes a stable member of his neighborhood. The college boy embraces the cultural and social values of the middle class and strives to be successful by these standards. These youths are on an almost hopeless path because they are ill-equipped academically, socially, and linguistically to achieve the rewards of middle class life. The delinquent boy adopts a set of norms and principles in direct opposition to middle class values. They live for the day and do not think about tomorrow. They go against efforts made by family, school, or other sources of authority to control their behavior. The attraction, loyalty, and solidarity are some of the reasons they join gangs along with the gangs perception of autonomy and independence. Reaction formation is the result of the delinquent boy’s inability to succeed. The real problem for Cohen is status frustration, not blocked opportunity (Siegel, 2013). Lower-class youth desire approval and status, but because they cannot meet middle-class criteria, they become frustrated (Criminology chapter 4 outline sagepub.com). They overreact to any perceived threat or slight. They are also willing to take risk, violate the law, and flout middle-class conventions. Cohen’s work explains the factors that promote and sustain a

The look and study of street gangs have been shifting over the past 4-5 decades due to changes in the tactics taken by sociologists. There were many books written about these gangs including “The Gang” , by Thrasher, which was recognized as one of the first or if not the first gang related to sociological views. People ask questions such as, “Why do people join these gangs and why do most of them end up causing havoc and violence within a city.” This is a question a normal person that isn’t looking at these people as subjects due for change but rather people who aren’t “normal”. Sociologists look at these people and ask questions like, “Where do they live? Who are they friends with? How and why did their social practices and cultural values change?” These are questions a sociologist would ask simply because there are many factors which come out when determining the choices of deviance within a person.

Across the nation, social scientists and criminologists have researched and hypothesized the main contributing factors that promote juvenile delinquency. The Strain/ Anomie theory introduced by Robert Merton and later revised by several other theorists, attempts to explain why juvenile subculture tend to behave certain ways when confronted with pressures from everyday life. Revised by other theorists, the Strain theory attempts to provide the framework of juvenile delinquency and its sources in order to analyze the effectiveness of this assumption, as well as to implement certain crime prevention policies and programs to curb this problem. This paper is going to analyze how the Strain theory contributes it’s principles of delinquency

This theory posits that criminal behavior is a result of disorganization and strain. This theory also seeks to explain, “how people living in deteriorated neighborhoods react to social isolation and economic deprivation. ” This theory advocates the view, that, as a result of these conditions, the lower socioeconomic class individuals form a separate and distinct sub culture whose values, norms and rules are the polar opposite of the society’s. Cohen’s Delinquent Subcultural Theory and Cloward and Ohlin’s Theory of Differential Opportunity will be used under the umbrella Cultural Deviance Theory of Crime to explain juvenile involvement in gangs with relation to Trinidad and

Some members of delinquent gangs may be the sole carriers of a particular subculture in a particular location, and some are shared. For example conflict subcultures are shared by rival fighting gangs among whom individual and group status involves values related to defense of turf and reputation and norms loyal of these values. Some subcultures oriented to theft and other forms of property crime which they are connected with a particular group. Some property crime involves more organizing and planning in order to succeed. Other crimes such as mugging may involve only one person who shares the same subculture as the larger group. In an article by Terry William’s it states that delinquent subcultures contain elements of both youth and adult cultures. It also stated that to speak of youth culture is to symbolize a subculture of the larger adult-dominated and institutionally defined culture (1989). Many of criminal subculture shares a symbolic relationship with their customs, manly the people

Although my personal experiences are not involved in gang like activity, or serious deviant behavior, it still resembles the actions children make when they are left unsupervised. These behaviors become so normalized in these inner cities, which people just become accustom to delinquent behavior because it is so embedded within communities. This theories concern is only with how the “characteristics of geographical areas, such as whether they are disorganized, influence crime rates” (Cullen). Although I think that this is an interesting aspect to consider upon looking at crime rates, I do not think it is accurate to study a community without studying the characteristics of those who make up the community as well. Sampson and Wilson argue that social disorganization is linked to racial inequalities rather then it being a natural part of city growth. I think that this is an accurate statement, because racial inequality is what creates such a tremendous divide among communities, and I believe that if racial inequality did not exist, we would not have as much disorganization within communities. It has also been argued that “cultural values emerge that do not