Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to episode six of Crime and Deviants
Speaker 1: for The Sociology Show podcasts, and the focus of this
Speaker 1: episode is subcultural explanations of crime and Deviants. So we'll
Speaker 1: explore what do we mean by subcultures. We'll question how
Speaker 1: subcultures can be functional for society, how subcultures could be
Speaker 1: a reaction to either capitalism and patriarchy, or how subcultures
Speaker 1: can be linked to socialization and dependency. So crime and
Speaker 1: deviance can be heavily linked to the issue of subcultures.
Speaker 1: These are groups that perceived to deviate from the normative
Speaker 1: standards of the dominant culture with their own distinctive norms
Speaker 1: and values. Subcultures are usually linked to younger crimes and
Speaker 1: often for groups between the ages of fourteen and twenty five,
Speaker 1: and it's often known as juvenile delinquency. So the key
Speaker 1: thing with subcultural theory is that it looks at group
Speaker 1: crime rather than individual crime. The other thing to be
Speaker 1: aware of with subcultural explanations is that many subcultural theorists
Speaker 1: also belong to another sociological perspect so, for example, they
Speaker 1: could also be a functionist to Marxist, to feminists and
Speaker 1: so on. Subcultural groups are more likely to be marginalized
Speaker 1: and have low paid work or be unemployed. They are
Speaker 1: less likely to have strong bonds with societies such as
Speaker 1: a family or their own high social status standing. Subcultural
Speaker 1: theory emerged from the work of the Chicago School. Subcultural
Speaker 1: theory emerged from the work of the Chicago School and
Speaker 1: their research on gangs, and it developed through the interactionist
Speaker 1: approach into a set of theories arguing that certain groups
Speaker 1: or subcultures in society have values and attitudes that are
Speaker 1: conducive to crime and violence. Subcultural theory tries to explain
Speaker 1: both utilitarian crime that's crime related to money, and non
Speaker 1: utilitarian crimes such as joy riding and vandalism. A key
Speaker 1: of subcultural theory is that of marginalization. Those groups that
Speaker 1: feel cut off and ostracized by society are much more
Speaker 1: likely to engage in deviant and criminal acts. Individual can
Speaker 1: feel marginalized due to their ethnicity, their gender, their social class,
Speaker 1: their age, as well as a range of other factors.
Speaker 1: So let's start with the idea that subcultures are functional.
Speaker 1: Functionist sociologists argue that devian and criminal subcultures are functional
Speaker 1: for certain individuals within society. Albert Cohen showed that some
Speaker 1: individuals joined devian and criminal subcultures to gain status. Cohen
Speaker 1: found in particular that lower class boys strove to emulate
Speaker 1: middle class values but were unable to do this, and
Speaker 1: this led to what he called a status frustration. As
Speaker 1: a result, they invert these values in favor of misbehaving
Speaker 1: in a subculture. He believed that these working class youths
Speaker 1: committed non utilitarian crime to gain status among other members
Speaker 1: of the group. Also, Venkatesh discussed outlaw capitalism, and in
Speaker 1: this he said how this reinforces the idea of youths
Speaker 1: joining criminal subcultures such as drug dealing gangs to gain
Speaker 1: money and as a defense mechanism. Again sainst the structural inequalities. Therefore,
Speaker 1: these deviant and criminal subcultures are functional for individuals as
Speaker 1: it allows them to gain status, earn money, and defend
Speaker 1: each other from an unjust world. In a similar function
Speaker 1: of study, Cloud and Olan show how working class us
Speaker 1: deviate from societal norms because they don't possess the same
Speaker 1: legitimate opportunity structures as the middle classes. This means they
Speaker 1: don't have the same access to good education and jobs. Instead,
Speaker 1: the working classes have more access to illegitimate opportunity structures.
Speaker 1: This means earning money and status via crime and deviants.
Speaker 1: This is because criminal subcultures usually have established criminal networks,
Speaker 1: role models, and hierarchies that already exist in working class areas.
Speaker 1: These criminal subcultures are functional as it allows the working
Speaker 1: class individuals and groups opportunities to earn money and status
Speaker 1: when their legitimate means are blocked. Cloud and Olin also
Speaker 1: show how conflict subcultures, so those groups based on fighting
Speaker 1: respect or challenging authority, is also functional for certain individuals
Speaker 1: and groups in society. A person who is not successful
Speaker 1: in either of these subcultures could join a retreat a subculture,
Speaker 1: a world of drugs and alcohol abuse. Again, these deviant
Speaker 1: and criminal subcultures provide opportunities for certain individuals and groups
Speaker 1: to earn money and status, to challenge authority or retreat
Speaker 1: from society's norms. Younger groups are much more likely to
Speaker 1: feel pressure, which can impact deviant behavior and the chances
Speaker 1: of committing criminal activities. Miller argues that working class boys
Speaker 1: in particular are attracted to criminal subcultural deviants as they
Speaker 1: are socialized into a particular set of norms and values
Speaker 1: that he calls focal concerns. They may, for example, be
Speaker 1: attracted to excitement or toughness, or smartness or trouble, autonomy,
Speaker 1: or even fate. This idea is supported by the work
Speaker 1: of David Matsa, who argues that young males are more
Speaker 1: likely to experience what he can Drift Drift theory argues
Speaker 1: that juveniles sense an obligation to the law. This obligation
Speaker 1: to the law remains in place most of the time. However,
Speaker 1: when this obligation is strained, juvenile delinquents tend to drift
Speaker 1: into crime. Matsa also argues that young males use techniques
Speaker 1: of neutralization to justify their criminality. He suggests there are
Speaker 1: five techniques in the form of denial of responsibility, denial
Speaker 1: of injury, denial of victims, appeal to higher loyalties, and
Speaker 1: condemnation of condemners. So why else may groups form subcultures
Speaker 1: will It could be that devian and criminal subcultures are
Speaker 1: reacting or rebelling against capitalism. Marxists argue that devian and
Speaker 1: criminal youth subcultures are a resistance to capitalism and consumerism.
Speaker 1: Gram She points out that working class US are yet
Speaker 1: to be ideologically controlled by capitalism and still have the
Speaker 1: capacity for free thought to challenge the system. Therefore, devian
Speaker 1: and criminal youth subcultures are ways for working classes to
Speaker 1: rebel against cultural hegemony. Heabdige takes Gramschey's idea further by
Speaker 1: showing us how the use of alternative, spectacular youth subcultures
Speaker 1: such as punks and hippies are used to reject cultural hegemony.
Speaker 1: These spectacular youth subcultures create their own distinctive stars in
Speaker 1: an attempt to solve the problems of capitalism, but according
Speaker 1: to Hebdige, the solutions they offer are imaginary solutions. Scraton,
Speaker 1: on the other hand, shows how deviant and criminal youth
Speaker 1: subcultures emerge as a legitimate resistance to oppression and exclusion.
Speaker 1: For example, working classes are excluded from legitimate opportunities such
Speaker 1: as education and employment, and are therefore justified in creating
Speaker 1: and maintaining anti school subcultures to rebel against the injustice
Speaker 1: or the injustices they feel they are facing. For example,
Speaker 1: ethnic minorities may face historical, structural, and individual racism, which
Speaker 1: ultimately excludes them from legitimate oportunity, and therefore these groups
Speaker 1: are justified in politically resisting these structural inequalities via political
Speaker 1: protests such as Black Lives Matter, or joining gangs and
Speaker 1: participating in alternative lifestyles that conflict with mainstream society. Therefore,
Speaker 1: Marxists show that marginalized groups such as the working classes
Speaker 1: and ethnic minorities are resisting the external forces of a
Speaker 1: capitalist society. Likewise, deviant and criminal subcultures could be a
Speaker 1: reaction to patriarchy. Both female and male dominated subcultures can
Speaker 1: be seen as a reaction to patriarchy in different ways,
Speaker 1: i e. To deviate away from patriarchy, to conform to patriarchy,
Speaker 1: or to challenge and rebel against patriarchy. For example, Seizeick
Speaker 1: and Pollux studied pro anna, which means pro anorexia, deviant
Speaker 1: online subcultures and show that some young females are deviating
Speaker 1: against the patriarchal ideology of the ideal body image for women.
Speaker 1: These females, by participating and eating disorder, see this as
Speaker 1: a way to gain control over their own bodies and
Speaker 1: therefore not conform to the male dominated ideas of female
Speaker 1: body image. Harding shows that in criminal subcultures like gangs,
Speaker 1: young females are still controlled by a patriarchal hierarchy and
Speaker 1: play secondary roles. These roles include hiding weapons, carrying drugs,
Speaker 1: and providing a sexual role for the males. This shows
Speaker 1: that females, even if they do join deviant and criminal subcultures,
Speaker 1: are still controlled by the patriarchal hierarchy within them. Harding
Speaker 1: calls these roles fixers. Other studies also show how patriarchy
Speaker 1: can hinder females from joining both deviant and criminal subcultures.
Speaker 1: Heidensen shows how patriarchy controls females in both the public
Speaker 1: sphere and the private sphere, the public being work, media
Speaker 1: and education, and private being family, socialization, conjugal roles, domestic violence, etc.
Speaker 1: This shows that females have less opportunities to be involved
Speaker 1: in criminal or deviant subs, and this view is also
Speaker 1: supported by McRobbie and Garber's idea of bedroom culture that
Speaker 1: women are much more likely to be inside and protected,
Speaker 1: whereas males are outside taking risks. However, Adlers shows that
Speaker 1: female subcultures can be seen as a rebellion against patriarchy.
Speaker 1: In her idea of liberation thesis, she argues that females
Speaker 1: should be more deviant and criminal in order to challenge
Speaker 1: and eradicate patriarchy. Examples of this include the band Pussy
Speaker 1: Riot and also the me Too campaigns. Likewise, Jackson shows
Speaker 1: that females rebel against patriarchal school system by creating deviant
Speaker 1: anti school subcultures, and Jackson refers to this as laddette culture.
Speaker 1: The increase in female crime rates suggest that women, now
Speaker 1: as they get more freedom and break away from patriarchy,
Speaker 1: do start to increase criminal and deviant behavior in the
Speaker 1: same way that men do, and so they are rebelling
Speaker 1: against the patriarchy. For males, deviant and criminal use subcultures
Speaker 1: can also be seen to deviate or to con form
Speaker 1: to patriarchy. For example, Mesischments shows how patriarchy influences male
Speaker 1: criminal activity, as young males express their hegemonic masculinity via
Speaker 1: criminal activities like drug dealing in order to provide money,
Speaker 1: the bread winning role, violence as the protector, sexism, and
Speaker 1: misogyny in order to show dominance. But Hamfler shows that
Speaker 1: some males don't conform to hegemonic masculinity and wider society,
Speaker 1: but instead practice what he calls nerd masculinity via online subcultures.
Speaker 1: This is evident in gaming, where males can compete and
Speaker 1: earn status amongst others. Some sociologists, like Hamflurs, see this
Speaker 1: as a reaction to the dominant values of hegemonic masculinity,
Speaker 1: and therefore these males are deviating away from the norms
Speaker 1: of a patriarchal society. However, other sociologists like Sarkeesium point
Speaker 1: out that these nerd masculinities are still glamorizing criminal ideas
Speaker 1: of sexism, misogyny, and violence, which is reflective of both
Speaker 1: hegemonic masculinity and patriarchy. Finally, deviant and criminal subcultures could
Speaker 1: also be seen as a link to socialization and dependency.
Speaker 1: The New Right point to socialization and dependency as reasons
Speaker 1: for the origins of development of devian and criminal youth subcultures.
Speaker 1: Charles Murray suggests that the underclass, that's those people that
Speaker 1: are long term unemployed and welfare dependent, subscribe to devian
Speaker 1: and criminal value systems and transmit these values to their
Speaker 1: children via primary socialization. Murray and others also point to
Speaker 1: the rise of single mothers and absent fathers as a
Speaker 1: major factor in the development of the underclass. The argument
Speaker 1: is that a lack of male role models in female
Speaker 1: headed single parent families leads to a lack of discipline
Speaker 1: and control of younger males in particular growing up in
Speaker 1: these underclass families. Tony Sewell points to the role of
Speaker 1: media and socializing these young males into a type of
Speaker 1: hypermasculinity which glamorizes the activities of rebellion via drug dealing
Speaker 1: to air money, gang violence to sustain status, and sexism
Speaker 1: and misogyny to control females. Both of these studies show
Speaker 1: how poor socialization from single mothers in underclass families are
Speaker 1: a key reason for the rise in deviant and criminal
Speaker 1: youth subcultures and wider society. Marslan further reinforces Murray's ideas
Speaker 1: and he blames a dependency culture for the continuation of
Speaker 1: the underclass and therefore the development of devian and criminal
Speaker 1: youth subcultures. Marslan believes that the welfare state is over
Speaker 1: generous and it makes it too easy to live off
Speaker 1: the state, which in turn encourages an underclass culture of
Speaker 1: immediate gratification, anti work, and anti authority values and norms. Therefore,
Speaker 1: he calls this a Nani state in which there is
Speaker 1: an encouragement for a culture of dependency, which in turn
Speaker 1: needs to arise in deviant and criminal youth subcultures. There are,
Speaker 1: of course, many criticisms of the subcultural theory. In particular,
Speaker 1: it does lack a focus of individuals driven crime. Many
Speaker 1: crimes are carried out by individuals, and the right realist
Speaker 1: Clark talks about rational choice theory, whereby individuals choose to
Speaker 1: adopt and take on different criminal activities by themselves. Therefore,
Speaker 1: in counterargument to subcultures, you should always compare to those
Speaker 1: crimes that have a lot more individualistic driven tendencies rather
Speaker 1: than those of group crimes. Thank you very much for listening.
Speaker 1: If you've not yet listened to episodes one to five,
Speaker 1: please do go back and listen now. Thank you.