Sociology Crime and Deviance

Crime and Deviance

Read Item A below and answer the question that follows.

Item A

Subcultural theorists, who have developed earlier functionalist ideas about crime, are interested in explaining why some people in society break the rules. Subcultural theories see crime and deviance as a group activity.

Different subcultural theories take different views on the reasons for crime and rule-breaking. However, they all agree that subcultural crime and deviance are best understood by looking at the groups involved in order to identify what causes members to be attracted to rule-breaking. In particular, subcultural theories look at why members of these groups hold different norms and values from the rest of society.

Some sociologists however, think that these groups do not particularly hold norms and values which are that different to mainstream society and that they are not committed to a career criminal path but just drift in and out of delinquent behaviour.

[1] Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the usefulness of subcultural theories

in explaining ‘subcultural crime and deviance’ in society today. (21 marks)

In this essay, I will assess the usefulness of subcultural theories in explaining ‘subcultural crime and deviance’ in society today.

As stated in Item A, a ‘subculture’ is a number of individuals who choose to follow a distinct group of people who follow different norms and values compared to those in mainstream society. Also, these norms and values can sometimes be considered deviant in society and contain criminal activity.

Cohen believes that subcultural crime and deviance today results from the failure of the lower class being able to achieve mainstream goals by appropriate means. As a subcultural theorist, he also believes that reaction formation is the ability of youths being able to rebound after predictable failure, e.g. being able to re-sit exams within education. Cohens key element to his theory is status frustration, this is where...