# data[].attributes.body
Crime: unlawful acts/behaviour, an act which breaks the law
Deviance: acts/behaviours which go against accepted norms/values
Anomie: Durkheim - normlessness
Strain to anomie: Merton - strain between cultural goals and lack of legitimate means to achieve it that creates a pressure to resort to illegal means.
Delinquent subculture: collective solution to the common problems of lower working class adolescents.
Status frustration: dissatisfied with low status in society.
Alternative status hierarchy: different set of norms/values used in place of goals of mainstream culture so people are able to achieve where they may not be able to in mainstream society.

# data[].attributes.body
Some sociologists argue causes of crime can be found in:
- the offender's background/upbringing/social position - e.g., poverty or faulty socialisation.
- the way society reacts to law-breaking - e.g., labelling can make criminality more likely.
- the way some acts but not others come to be defined as crimes - e.g., those who make laws may only do so to their interests/to avoid punishments for their own crimes.

# data[].attributes.body
Crime is a socially constructed, complex phenomenon that contains many diverse acts/behaviours that are culturally and historically specific. Some acts that cause extreme harm in society may not be defined as crimes. No one theory is able to explain all forms of crime, or provide solutions for all forms of crime.

# data[].attributes.body
Said in a society with no crime, even minor crimes such as dropping litter would have large punishments and be seen as big issues.
Three ways crime has a positive function:
- Boundary maintenance
- Social cohesion
- Adaption/Change
Other functions of crime:
- Kingley Davis: prostitution acts as a safety valve for the release of men's sexual frustration. Ensures nuclear families do not break down.
- Polsky: porn channels sexual desires away from alternatives like adultery. Speculation that porn has contributed to the recorded falls in crime.
- Deviancy is often blamed on the transition from childhood to adulthood. Society manages and regulates deviance instead of trying to eliminate it.
- Erikson: if deviance performs positive social functions, the true function of agencies of social control (e.g., police) is to sustain a certain level of crime.

# data[].attributes.body
- Does not specify an optimum amount of crime for society.
- Does not explain the origins of crime.
- Ignores the harmful effects of crime.
- Crime does not always promote social solidarity - may promote fear.

# data[].attributes.body
- Explains the patterns shown in official crime stats: most crime is property crime as material wealth is so highly valued, and lower class crime rates are higher because they have less means to obtain wealth legitimately.
- Takes official stats at face value - over-represent working class crime. Some lawyers are corrupt so crime stats are less valid.
- Deterministic - not all deviate.
- Marxists argue that it ignores the ruling class ability to make laws that criminalise the poor but not the rich.
- Assumes there is value consensus, and everyone strives for money success.
- COUNTER: Many of the 5 responses argue that people give up on the goals.
- Only accounts for utilitarian crime for monetary gain, not crimes of violence/vandalism/state crimes.
- COUNTER: Merton said some may resort to violence if they cannot achieve their goals.
- Ignores the role of group deviance, instead focuses on individuals.

# data[].attributes.body
Argues people do crime when they are unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate/legal means.
Found a strain between socially approved goals (material success/high status) and the means of achieving these goals.
Adapted Durkheim's concept of anomie to explain deviance, and combined two elements:
- Structural factors (unequal opportunity structure)
- Cultural factors (over-powering emphasis on success at all costs)
The American Dream: the ideology that every American has equal opportunities to become rich, successful and fulfilled through enthusiastic and determined combination of effort and skill.
In reality, lower class groups are disadvantaged and denied opportunities to achieve legitimately. There is then a strain between the cultural goals and the means to achieve it. Merton called this pressure to deviate strain to anomie.
FIVE POSSIBLE RESPONSES:
Conformity: accepts cultural goals and means to achieve (e.g., teachers)
Innovation: accepts cultural goals, rejects means to achieve (e.g., drug dealer)
Ritualism: rejects cultural goals, accepts means to achieve (e.g., traffic warden)
Retreatism: rejects cultural goals and means to achieve (e.g., alcoholic)
Rebellion: creates own cultural goals and means to achieve (e.g., political radicals)
Some do not fit into these categories (e.g., joy rider, vandal) and some can switch between these five categories.

# data[].attributes.body
Made two criticisms of Merton's ideas:
- delinquency is a collective not an individual response.
- failed to account for crimes that don't attempt to increase wealth.
Begins in the same way as Merton's - educational failure of working class boys makes cultural goals unattainable. Argued status frustration is resolved by rejecting the success of mainstream culture. They replace them with an alternative set of norms and values that they can achieve success and gain prestige with. Cohen called this alternative status hierarchy. This then results in a delinquent subculture.
Mainstream values are inverted - high value placed on stealing, vandalism, truancy, etc. These acts offer positive rewards and solves the problem of status frustration. This explains non-monetary crimes.

# data[].attributes.body
Middle class measuring rod: schools don't take into account that working class pupils come from a disadvantaged backgrounds (one size fits all). Similar to Bourdieu's habitus.
Reaction formation: denies with abnormal intensity with what they can't have; outright rejects it.
College boys: constantly striving but failing to live up to middle class expectations; pushes them on their peers.
Corner boys: knows they won't succeed; bides time, does not pursue material goals; follows traditional adult behaviours at a young age.
Delinquent boys: internalises middle class norms but has reaction formation. Unable to live up to it so rejects it outright; behaviour is an attempt to do the opposite of what is expected.

# data[].attributes.headline
Criticisms of Cohen's Delinquent Subculture

# data[].attributes.subject
Criticisms of Cohen's Delinquent Subculture

# data[].attributes.body
- Offers explanation for non-utilitarian deviance (e.g., vandalism/joy-riding/truancy).
- Assumes working class boys accept middle glass goals to begin with - Box doubts most delinquent youths initially accept mainstream values. Simply feel resentment at being regarded as failures by teachers and middle class youths.
- Class/gender biased - only considers working class boys