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Albert K.Cohen was the first person that attempted to find out the
process of beginning of a delinquent subculture. His perspective has
been referred to an integrating theory of several sociological theories
such as the Chicago School's sociologist's work, Merton¡'s strain
theory, cultural conflict theory and Sutherland's differential
association theory.
In Cohen's book Delinquent Boys: The Culture of the Gangs, (1955)
it was quite apparent that his work was a product of the 1950's. Having
won World War 2 and with the country gradually returning to normalcy,
Americans were once again obsessed with the "American Dream." People
believed that a prosperous future could be attained by education and
employment. Middle-class values that emphasized ambition and material
success became dominate, anything otherwise was not accepted as
"normal." However, behind this promising climate, the great fear of
delinquency was lurking and rising.
During the period of World War 2, juvenile delinquency became one of
the most important "home front" public issues. This label "juvenile
delinquency" applied to youthful misbehavior, mostly to lower class
and immigrant children. The separation of the "we-they" led the
middle class to see itself as a far more superior class. Cohen¡¯s
subculture theory was one of the post war studies of delinquency. He
believed that the history of a deviant act is the history of an
interaction process, of which the problem of delinquency is mainly a
male phenomenon. Cohen assumed that the subculture was found in the
lower class where social control was not strong enough to constrain the
delinquency and that lower class boys in particular have not been
equipped to deal with the competitive struggle that takes place in
middle class institutions. Crime culture existed in certain social
groups and the individual learned the values of deviance through
participation in gangs. Since delinquent boys rejected all middle class
standards, some acts considered to be "wrong" by the middle class may
not be wrong by the delinquent boy's standards. For example, a child
fostered in the subculture that did not respect the law was prone to
temptation of deviance. This theory explains why crime rate is so high
in inner city and rural areas.
In a democratic society, children are not evaluated against others
of their own group but against "all corners" and measured by "the
middle-class measuring rod," whereby all children are measured to
determine their social class standing. Whether one was a lower class
boy or middle class boy, Cohen contended, he could not be indifferent
to the middle-class norms because the middle class norms were the norms
represented every part of our society and the achievement of their
criteria could guarantee a respectable position in adulthood. In a
nutshell, Cohen believed that schools are primarily run by people from
the middle class. He was referring to the administrators, teachers, and
counselors. Some of the children that attend these schools are not from
the middle class and do not exhibit the kinds of behaviors which the
middle class expects to see and approve. They have not learned the type
of behavior that will contribute to their success, and therefore are
not comfortable in these institutions. Children who do not measure up
to these standards develop status frustration and as a result, begin to
act out. Acting out takes the form of reversing the very middle class
values against which the lower class children were measured. The lower
class children are conditioned to be disadvantaged when meeting this
criterion by two factors.
First, the lower class children are surrounded by cultural settings
that do not exemplify the middle class norms. The parents of lower
class children tend to possess less ambition for job and income and
they do not emphasize the planning and foresight for the goals. Paying
little attention to learning opportunities for the future is displaced
by the principle of "good luck." In opposed to the middle class
"ethic of individual responsibility," they instead are ready to ask
for aid from others and draw on their resources without a feeling of
guilt. They are not good at controlling of emotion and are apt to
express their aggression.
Secondly, the lower class children are unfavorable in terms of
training grounds. The middle class parents have aspiration for their
children¡'s achievements of the middle class norms; hence, this
motivates the children to meet what their parents expect them to do.
Moreover, the middle class parents supply educational facilities like
books and toys for their children to encourage activity in gaining
knowledge. They have more control of their children's lives. In
contrast, lower class children are less constrained in terms of parents
control and so are allowed to contact any peer group freely. Their
socialization progresses more independently. Lower class children are
less likely to be influenced by their parent's expectations. The
middle class parents motivate their children to conform to their
expectations through parental love and support, which is to be given
only when the children meet parent's expectations. In contrast, the
lower class parents depend frequently on physical punishment rather
than parental love. It does not have a lasting effect on children,
rather the lower class children is dependent on the expectations from
their peer groups.
Cohen sought to account for the emergence of delinquent subculture
among juveniles by showing the problems of adjustment were strongly
related to the social class of juveniles. Although lower class children
did not necessarily confront problems of adjustment more than middle
class children did, he argued that it was probable that there was
correlation between the kinds of problems, which the lower class
children had.
The social class of a certain child's family determined the
problems and experiences that he would have in society. However,
children have no choice but to accept their ascribed social classes
because their classes are dependent on their families' status.
Children have knowledge of social class system through perception of
the class status of their family when they reach adolescence.
Though it is true that Cohen was an advocate of Merton¡'s theory and
contributed much to the elaboration of the anomie perspective, he
attempted to account for other characteristics of delinquency
subculture that the traditional anomie theory disregarded. He viewed
the adaptation of a deviant act to strain as a tentative and gradual
process between similar people in similar situations suffering the same
problem. Cohen contended that all human action was an effort to solve
problems that a person encounters living in a society, and these
problems were generated by the two factors: 1) "frame of reference"
and 2) the "situation" the person confronts. Everyone is surrounded
by different situations that may be limited to what one can do which
results in conflicts. When one recognizes the situation in different
ways because Cohen sees the fact is influenced much by subjective
factors such as experiences, interests, and fixed ideas.
The morality of what to do and what not to do stems from ones own
frame of reference through individual moral standards. Cohen states, in
order to solve these problems by satisfying solutions, one must change
their frame of reference.
Why delinquency arose? Cohen argued that gangs developed as a result
of the class structure of the American society. The lower class
children feel "status frustration" where middle class values
dominate, because while these youth's possess aspirations for
intellectual or occupational success, they realize their incapacity for
meeting these goals. To solve this status problem, they create a
delinquency subculture that rejects all of middle class values and
represents their antithesis. A defense mechanism to overcome anxiety as
an explanation, called "reaction formation," was to overcome anxiety
caused by suffering of status frustration.
Cohen characterized the delinquent subculture as "non-utilitarian,
malicious, and negativistic." He exemplified gang stealing; juvenile
delinquent stealing does not have any utilitarian consideration of
gains, they steal "for the hell of it." It is malicious in that the
gangs express malice, scorn and rebellion toward the society from which
they are apart. Abandoning the middle class value system, gang members
achieve their own status by doing what they do best such as standing up
for themselves and showing their toughness. It holds a rule that is
opposed to the norms of a larger culture even though the delinquent's
conduct is right by their own standards. The nature of the culture is
versatile because it does not specialize in particular deviance unlike
many other adult gangs. Cohen also mentions "short-run hedonism."
Gangs tend to just hang around street corners without long-term goals
instead they go about their activities and follows the impulsive desire
to have fun. The members emphasized group autonomy or intolerance of
restraint except from the informal pressures within the group itself.
Usually there are strong ties and united relationships, whereas they
resist the regulation from outside groups such as home, school and
other agencies.
Subcultures are defined as subdivision within the dominant culture
with own norms, values and belief system. According to Cohen,
subcultures are communities that have values that are opposition to
those of the dominant culture. A subculture emerges when individuals in
similar circumstances find themselves isolated by mainstream society.
They group together for mutual support. Cohen thought that these
children would respond to mainstream society one of three ways
simplified: Corner Boy, College Boy, and Delinquent Boy. Corner Boy
just hangs out on the streets with the rest of his members, tries to
get a job and become part of the mainstream but fails. College Boy
tries the hardest but fails. He falls the hardest because he had the
highest expectations. Last is the delinquent Boy, which says, "If
society rejects me, than I am going to reject society." The delinquent
subculture offers to the lower class children new norms whereby they
are no longer inferiors to the middle class. Rather, they are superior
to them. Group or gang activity legitimizes and supports aggression
against the middle class norms. Cohen argued that these children
reacted to the situation by hostility in order to defend newly
established norms. The collective support of the group is important if
he persists in delinquent activity, because he is not convinced, at
least not consciously, that his hostile reaction is normal. As long as
the group supports his actions, he continues to blame the external
middle class institutions and ward off feelings of inadequacy.
In order for the subculture to work well, as a solution to the
status problem, it should be adopted as a group solution. Whether the
boys are motivated to follow the new norms depends on the availability
of their new reference groups. In addition if a delinquent boy is to
perfect his solution to the status problem, he must reject other groups
that do not share his subculture. Accordingly, the members become more
dependants on their own group, and they establish solidarity among the
members.
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