subcultural theory

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                            Sub cultural theory

“ To what extent do Functionalist sub cultural theories help to explain the relationship between the environment and crime?” (40)

Subcultural theories share the common belief that people who commit crime usually share different values from the mass of law-abiding members of society. For example, some groups of criminals might develop norms that encourage criminal behaviour. On the other hand, some members of society would regard this as immoral and wrong. A subculture is defined as “ a subdivision within the dominant culture that has its own norms, values and belief system”. These subcultures usually emerge when individuals find themselves isolated or excluded from mainstream society. Members of subcultures are not any different from other members of society; however, they do hold a set of their own “amended” values that justify their criminal behaviour.

Sociologists find it useful to distinguish between two main types of sub-culture; Reactive and Independent. A "reactive sub-culture" is one in which the members of a particular sub-cultural group develop norms and values that are both a response to and opposition against the prevailing norms and values that exist in a predominantly middle-class or conventional culture. In this respect, this form of sub-culture is also sometimes called "oppositional". An “independent” subculture is when members of the group hold a set of norms and beliefs that are “self contained” and specific to the group. An independent subculture is different to a reactive subculture in that they are not opposed to the prevailing norms and values in society.

This essay is now going to look at Robert Merton’s “Strain theory” (1938).

In the 1930s, Robert Merton tried to locate deviance within a functionalist framework. He believed that crime and deviance were evidence of a poor fit (or strain) between the socially accepted goals within society and the socially approved means of obtaining these desired goals. He begins his argument from the functionalist view of value consensus – the idea that all members of society share the same values. However, as some members of society are placed lower down in the social structure, they do not always have the same opportunity of realizing the shared values and attaining their goals. Merton argues, “ The social and cultural structure generates pressure for socially deviant behaviour upon people variously located in that structure.” The system worked well as long as the majority of people were able to achieve their goals. However, if the majority of people were unable to achieve their goals then they would seek alternative and deviant ways of achieving what they wanted.

Merton used Durkheim’s concept of “Anomie” to describe this situation. However, for Merton the concept of anomie meant a discontinuity between cultural goals and the legitimate means available for reaching them. In his study of an American society, Merton argues that, the "goal" guiding it all is a vision of how life ought to be: the so-called “American Dream”. On the one hand, this dream is  of what constitutes success: wealth, respect, a good job and family etc. On the other hand, this vision also instructs us that through hard work,  can make it. In America, the acceptable ways of achieving success are by getting good qualifications, hard work, ambition and talent. However, little importance is given to these acceptable ways of achievement, and therefore people seek to achieve their goals by any means possible. In this situation “anything goes” as there are no rules as to how to achieve your goals. When rules cease to operate, “anomie” occurs – a sense of normlessness.

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This evidence suggests that members of society who are lower down in the social structure are unable to attain their goals through legitimate means. This is because their status in society prevents/restricts them from having an equal opportunity to achieving them in a legitimate way. For example, some lower class people may have little educational qualifications and therefore this restricts their goals of achieving a good job and earning money.

Merton outlines 5 possible ways in which members of society can react to achieving their goals: Conformity, Innovation, Ritualism, Retreatism and Rebellion. Conformity is the most common way ...

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