Literature Review: Subcultural Theory of Crime

Literature Review: Subcultural Theory of Crime

Introduction

Subcultural theory surface as a result from the work of Chicago School, which has been developed from the earlier school of symbolic interactionism to a relatively new set of theories explaining criminal behavior. The subcultural theory argues that there are certain groups or subcultures in the society that promote attitudes and values conducive for violence and crime. Subcultural theorists mainly focus upon juvenile delinquency as they believed that if this form of offending behavior can be fully understood and controlled, it would be easier to prevent the transition from juvenile offender into mature and habitual criminal (Bussmann & Karstedt, 2000). This paper aims at presenting a review of literature on the subject of subcultural theories of crime.

Literature Review

It was Cohen( Cohen, 1955). and Cloward and Ohlin (Cloward & Ohlin,1960) who made the subcultural theories widely popular. These theories were mainly concerned with formation of gangs among teens and juveniles (Einstadter, Einstadter & Henry, 2006). Cohen is of the view the subculture promoting delinquent behavior is the outcome of a conflict that exists between the middle class and values, which are reinforced in schools (Braithwaite, 1989). He further agues about the values promoted in working class from the boys, 'who are in trouble,' generally come from. Similarly, Cloward and Ohlin explain the delinquent subcultures in an attempt to integrate anomie theory of Merton (Merton, 1938, pp. 672-682) and the differential association theory of Sutherland (Sutherland, 1949). According to these theorists, majority of the individuals in a society internalize the goals of achieving economic success that are culturally accepted. The opportunities, however, differ from neighborhood to neighborhood. This phenomenon, according to them, results in the rise of subcultures specific to the availability of opportunities in a given neighborhood.

The primary subculture, as observed by ...