More specifically, sub-cultural theories in criminology were developed to account for delinquency among lower-class males, especially for one of its most important expressions, the teenage gang
Of course, we do have to pause to consider what factors influence the concept of "dominant" culture. What factor do you think is most influential today?
The "middle class measuring rod" implies that all youth, of all income levels, are compared against the values of the middle class for that of academic & life success.
The middle class "measuring rod" highlights when lower-class children are evaluated by middle-class values which may or may not reflect their own values and upbringing.
Albert Cohen explained how the delinquent subculture arises, where it is found within the social structure, and why it has the particular characteristics that it does
By the middle-class #measuringrod, lower-class children fall far short of the standards they must meet if they are to compete successfully with middle-class children.
Cohen argues that they experience status frustration and strain, to which they respond by adopting one of three roles:
~corner boy,
~college boy,
~or delinquent boy.
The corner boy hangs out in the neighborhood with his peer group, spending the day in some group activity, such as gambling or athletic competition. Most lower-class boys become corner boys.
There are very few “college boys.” These boys continually strive to live up to middle-class standards, but their chances for success are limited because of academic and social hardships.
Cohen claims that even though these lower-class youths set up their own norms, they have internalized the norms of the dominant class and feel anxious when they go against those norms.
To deal with this conflict, they resort to #reactionformation, a mechanism that relieves anxiety through the process of rejecting with abnormal intensity what one wants but cannot obtain.
Reaction Formation argues that young men, excluded from the benefits of middle class society, actively, purposefully act out against those values as a self-defense for self-preservation against that isolation
Cohen’s theory does not explain why most delinquents eventually become law-abiding even though their position in the class structure remains relatively fixed.
Among them are researchers who have found a relationship between delinquency and social status in the society. Much evidence also supports Cohen’s assumption that lower-class children perform more poorly in school than middle-class children
Cohen’s theory answers a number of questions left unresolved by the strain. Yet his theory does not explain why most delinquents eventually become law-abiding even though their position in the class structure remains relatively fixed
Gerardo Lopez grew up in gang territory in Los Angeles, California, and was just 14 years old when he joined MS-13, the notorious Salvadorean gang. Why did he join and why did he leave?
Can you help me? This question remains as a recurring theme across Walz life from gangster to youth worker. Once he asked it - now others ask it of him
Like Cohen’s theory, the theory of differential opportunity developed by Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin combines strain, differential association, and social disorganization concepts.
In areas where conventional and illegitimate values and behavior are integrated by a close connection of illegitimate and legitimate businesses, “criminal gangs” emerge.
Neighborhoods characterized by instability, Cloward & Ohlin argue, offer few opportunities to get ahead in organized criminal activities, gives rise to “conflict gangs,” to gain a reputation for toughness and destructive violence
Cloward & Ohlin describe retreatist gangs as double failures, they have not been successful in the legitimate world and have been equally unsuccessful in the illegitimate worlds of organized criminal activity and violence-oriented gangs.
Empirical evidence suggests that gang behavior is more versatile and involves a wider range of criminal and noncriminal acts than the patterns outlined by Cloward and Ohlin.
Violence is the means used to gain status in conflict gangs. Conventional society’s recognition of the “worst” gangs becomes a mark of prestige, perpetuating the high standards of their members.
Some subcultures behavior norms are dictated by a value system that demands the use of force or violence. Subcultures that adhere to conduct norms conducive to violence are referred to as subcultures of violence
Violence is not used in all situations, but it is frequently an expected response. #Violence is not considered antisocial. Members of this subculture feel no guilt about their aggression.
Though empirical evidence remains inconclusive, the subculture of violence theory is supported by the distribution of violent crime in American society.
All the theorists examined thus far explain criminal and delinquent behavior in terms of subcultural values that emerge and are perpetuated from one generation to the next in lower-class urban slums.
Miller has identified six focal concerns, or areas, to which lower-class males give persistent attention:
~Trouble
~Toughness
~Smartness
~Excitement
~Luck
~Autonomy
An obvious question is whether in one’s global, heterogeneous, secular, technologically based society any isolated pockets of culture are still to be found
The pervasiveness of mass advertising, mass transit, and mass communication makes it seem unlikely that an entire class of people could be unaware of the dominant value system
The new subculture that emerged in the 1980s and continues into the new century combines violence, which has become more vicious than in earlier years, with big business in drug trafficking
Researchers are now focusing more attention on the two types of female gangs—those that are affiliates of male gangs and those that consist of all females.
In one of the few early studies, done in 1958, Albert Cohen and James Short suggested that female delinquent subcultures, like their male counterparts, were composed of members who had been frustrated in their efforts to achieve conventional goals
Anne Campbell published the first major work on the lifestyle of female gang members in New York. Campbell’s findings demonstrate that girls, like boys, join gangs for mutual support, protection, and a sense of belonging
Do You Know Famous Female #Gangsters? Described by J. Edgar Hoover as “the most vicious, dangerous and resourceful criminal brain”, Arizona Donnie Barker was a matriarch known for her murderous highway robberies
Do You Know Famous Female #Gangsters? Virginia Hill would go on to become a prolific gang-affiliated money launderer, cash courier, Mexican heroin trafficker and informant
Do You Know Famous Female #Gangsters? Stephanie St. Clair was fiercely protective of her Harlem neighborhood, fought for African-American rights and testified against corrupt police.
Do You Know Famous Female #Gangsters? Griselda Blanco became the first-ever billionaire criminal, earning $80 million a month from the proceeds of smuggling cocaine from Colombia to the US.
Do You Know Famous Female #Gangsters? The Snakehead, Cheng Chiu Ping was the leader of an underground crime group in New York’s Chinatown which was responsible for trafficking some 3000 illegal immigrants from China to the US
Most people think of gangs as synonymous with inner-city, low-income housing projects, turf wars, and a membership that often comes into conflict with law enforcement. But now the gang lifestyle is moving to suburbia
Delinquent gangs are similar to most inner-city gangs. Criminal activities include physical assaults, theft, burglary, and distribution of illegal drugs.
Hate gangs, such as skinheads, attach themselves to an ideology that targets racial and ethnic groups. Vandalism, destruction of property, terrorist threats, physical assaults, and even murder are justified by their belief system.
Subcultural theory assumes that individuals engage in delinquent or criminal behavior based on the following reasons.
~ Legitimate opportunities for success are blocked
~ Criminal values and norms are learned in lower-class slums #CRJ105#Subcultures
Share a gang movie/podcast/book that you recommend. Any season is good, but I have to STRONGLY urge students to listen to Season 3 of @WBEZ#Motive with @oyousef & @cpicciolini
Before we get started with Unit 02, I wanted to check in how the course is progressing for you so far. Now that we've got one unit under our belt, how is online learning treating you?
Good MORNING Criminology fans, I'm here in the home office, excited to get started talking about the #MeasurementOfCrime, who else is feeling the return to work after the long weekend?
Good afternoon, all. I'm back home, live, to answer any & all of your questions. We will be covering chapter 01, #ChangingBoundariesOfCriminogy this morning.