Sub Cultures From Which Criminal Behaviour Arises Criminology Essay

Sub Cultures From Which Criminal Behaviour Arises Criminology Essay Clarke et al. describe culture as the way social relations of a group are constructed, acknowledged and interpreted by its members. A subculture differs in its focal concerns but will also share some things in common with the culture from which it derives; also known as the parent culture. Subcultures must exhibit a unique structure focused on certain activities, beliefs and so on, that visibly distinguish them. Nevertheless, as they are sub-sets, there must be significant things that bind them with the parent culture. For example, the Kray twins were part of a criminal subculture and the working class culture in East London. Subcultures can be characterized by a distinctive language, music taste, dress sense, hairstyle and lifestyle understood and shared by its members. Examples include rockers, Rastafarians or punks. Criminal subcultures on the other hand, may share most of these characteristics, but will hold an alternative value system that accepts delinquent behaviour. Richard C loward and Lloyd Ohlin state that a delinquent subculture is one in which certain forms of delinquent activity are essential requirements for the performance of the dominant roles supported by the subculture (1960: 7). Criminal subcultures are normally found among lower class young males from large urban areas (Cloward Ohlin, 1960; Croall, 1998). This essay will look at a brief history of Robert Mertons work and the input of the Chicago School and associated theorists such as Edwin Sutherland to provide an understanding of how and why American subcultural theories developed thereafter. These approaches will be looked upon in assessing the works of Albert Cohen (1955) and Cloward and Ohlin (1960). Other works will be discussed such as Gresham Sykes and David Matza (1957) and Walter Miller (1958) to critique American subcultural theories. Finally, this shall be followed by work that emerged from Britain including David Downes and the Birmingham University Centre for Contemporary Cult ural Studies (CCCS). Other key factors influencing the nature of subcultures will be raised in order to provide a substantiated conclusion. Croall (1998) and Newburn (2007) both argue that American subcultural theory emerged from research carried out by the Chicago School in the 1930s on cultures, street life and delinquent gangs in Chicago. It was found that certain subcultures in society have different values and attitudes that contribute towards crime and violence. Influential theorists such as Edwin Sutherland (1937) aimed to explain the nature and development of youth subcultures by suggesting that crime is a learned behaviour that takes place in specific groups with different behaviours, attitudes and peer group pressures. He argued further that those exposed to more criminal than non-criminal values were more likely to adopt criminal values learnt through a process of differential association. This includes the techniques of committing a crime, motives, drives and rationalizations associated with crime. This differential association may differ in terms of frequency, duration, priority and intensity. Individuals th erefore become criminal due to an increased number of definitions favourable to breaking the law over definitions unfavourable to violations (Fulcher Scott, 2003; White Haines, 2004; OBrien Yar, 2008). On the contrary, Robert Merton developed the Strain Theory (1938) to expand upon the concept of anomie first argued by Durkheim who suggested that anomie is a state of normlessness in society. Merton attempted to explain the breakdown of cultural and social structure that accompanied the Great Depression of 1930s America (Burke, 2005). Social institutions such as the mass media, education system and the state stressed that middle class material rewards and success of the American Dream were achievable goals for individuals who worked hard to attain them, as argued by Merton. Unfortunately, working class male youths had different institutional means available to them. Moreover, they were ill prepared as they were not socialized to succeed in a middle class environment. They experienced strains associated with inappropriate structural opportunities to achieve culturally defined goals. For that reason, these blocked opportunities lead some people to form a delinquent subculture as a col lective solution to pursue alternative criminal avenues. Mertons theory therefore indicates that strains do not reside within the individual but are produced by wider social processes and structures (Croall, 1998, Bilton et al. 2002). Merton developed five different ways in which individuals respond; conformism- people accept the culturally defined goals and institutionalized means of attaining them; innovation- individuals accept the culturally defined goals but lack the institutionalized means to attain them and therefore resort to crime; ritualism- people accept the naturally defined goals but cannot sustain them but continue to pursue institutional mean regardless of the outcome; retreatism- people reject both the culturally defined goals and institutionalized means of attaining them and retreat from society in different ways such as substance abuse; and rebellionism- people substitute their own cultural goals and institutionalized means in place of the conventional goals and me ans of achieving them (White Haines, 2004; Burke, 2005; Newburn, 2007). Merton is criticized for accepting the status quo and assuming that there is a consensus amongst everyone to pursue the middle class cultural goals of ambition, success and achievement, rather than acknowledging how powerful people define society and its goals. Also, the focus is merely upon working class crime thus Merton accepts the official recorded crime statistics which suggest that crime is mostly committed by the working class. This suggests that the strain theory fails to consider structural inequalities for example how the capitalist system marginalizes and labels lower classes and criminalizes their activities. In addition to this Merton ignores other crimes like white collar or corporate crimes which are equally or even more damaging to society. Finally, though there may be some strain underpinning criminal behaviour, Merton does not fully explain why some individuals respond with delinquent behaviou r and others do not (White Haines, 2004, Fawbert, 2013). A different argument is provided by Albert Cohen in Delinquent Boys (1955) who developed the subcultural theory of Status Frustration. He criticized Merton for focusing on acquisitive property crime alone. Cohen argues that lower-class boys fail to attain the middle-class standards of success, suffer cultural deprivation, unemployment, educational failure and broken homes. For Cohen, the school was where lower class youth understood their choices were constrained by society (White Haines, 2004). As a result, they experience status frustration and reject mainstream goals. A delinquent subculture is formed as a collective response to these social problems. Individuals invert middle class values and therefore engage in negativistic malicious crimes such as vandalism in search for status rather than material success (Bilton et al. 2002; Terpstra, 2006, Fawbert, 2013). This notion is supported by Paul Willis study Learning to Labour (1981). Walter B. Miller disagrees with Cohens view tha t delinquents value middle class beliefs and invert them by acting out their frustration via negativistic crime. Miller developed the lower-class cultural theory (1958) that focused on gang delinquency and argued that the lower class has a separate, identifiable culture distinct from the culture of the middle class. (p.27). He argues that it has its own value system which naturally produces crime, thus a young person who conforms to lower-class values automatically becomes criminal. According to Miller (1958) lower-class culture is characterized by focal concerns; toughness, smartness, autonomy, excitement, fate and trouble. Therefore, a criminal subculture stands independently from middle-class culture and draws its beliefs and practices from its parent lower class culture (Glick, 2005; Terpstra, 2006). Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin (1960) criticize Albert Cohen for failing to explain why different types of delinquency take different forms. They argue that all classes share the same societal goals of success and wealth, however, the working class is deprived of gaining these goals. Illegitimate opportunity structures will arise in situations where the cultural goals are still pursued, but legitimate opportunities are lacking. Cloward and Ohlin therefore accept Mertons view that denied legitimate access to available opportunities results in working class criminality. Cloward and Ohlin stress that delinquents have withdrawn their support from established norms and have invested officially forbidden norms of conduct with a claim to legitimacy in the light of their special situation (1960: 19-20). Cloward and Ohlin suggest working class youth will share their own delinquent subcultural values dependent on different environments that provide different opportunities for crime (White Ha ines, 2004; Burke, 2005; Glick, 2005, Shildrick, 2006). Cloward and Ohlin (1960) provide three different types of subcultures which are a form or adaptation from the blocked opportunities given by the dominant social order. First is the criminal subculture found in areas with a pre-existing criminal culture whereby prestige is allocated to those who attain material success via illegal means of securing income such as property theft. To succeed within this subculture, one should cultivate appropriate connectionsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦andà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦promote an apprenticeship à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦with older and successful offenders (1960: 23). Second is the conflict subculture found in areas with high gang warfare and where the aim is to acquire a reputation for toughness and destructive violence (1960: 25). The manipulation of violence allows for individuals to gain status and prestige amongst their peers. The third type is retreatist subculture and it involves those that have failed to succeed both legitimately or otherwise; a double failure. Individuals or groups engage in a hedonistic existence and are culturally and socially detached from the life-style and everyday preoccupations of members of the conventional world (1960: 25). Alcohol or drug consumption becomes a way of life. All three subcultures are alike in that norms that guide behaviour are opposite to the norms of mainstream society. Cloward and Ohlin accept that these subcultures may sometimes overlap one another but overall their theory shows how working class delinquency is not due to material gain only (Croall, 1998; Newburn, 2007; Fawbert, 2013). Alternatively, David Matza 1964 argued that subcultural theory was guilty of over-predicting delinquency and ignoring human agency by providing an over deterministic view of human behaviour as influenced by society. Gresham Sykes and David Matza (1957) developed the Delinquency and Drift Theory that rejects subcultural theories and argues that working class youth subcultures form as a way of expressing particular subterranean values such as hedonism, adventure, thrill seeking and risk. Skyes and Matza argue that these are shared with mainstream society but expressed in different contexts. Mainstream society expresses these values and deferred gratification during their leisure time, whereas delinquents express these at the wrong time and place. Subcultures are seen to disregard the work ethic and enjoy pleasures that have not been earned through work (Fulcher and Scott, 2003). Further, similar to Cohens view, delinquents do not fully reject middle class goals, but regularly use techn iques of neutralization or deviance disavowal to justify their criminal actions (Shields Whitehall, 1994). One technique is the denial of responsibility such as suggesting that their action was accidental or blame it on their parents. Second is the denial of the victim by suggesting that the victim deserved it. Third is the denial of injury which involves the criminal refuting that their behaviour caused any real harm and was just for fun. Fourth, is condemning the condemners by suggesting that the police are corrupt for example. Lastly, an appeal to higher loyalties whereby other norms other than legal ones are more important and are worth protecting loved ones even if it means perverting the law (White Haines, 2004; Glick, 2005; Newburn, 2007; Fawbert, 2013). All in all, Matza and Sykes suggest that norms and values of subculture allow for criminality but do not demand it, particularly from the lower working class. Mainstream values influence criminals, thus subculture of delinquency is loose-knit as only a few members are full time committed and most drift between conformity and deviance (Fawbert, 2013 and Skyes Matza, 1957; Croall, 1998; Newburn, 2007). On the other hand, Skyes and Matza are criticized by Newburn (2007) and Downes (1966) for denying that there are distinct groups with their own distinctive values. Instead, they suggest that all people share delinquent subcultural values. The subcultural theories that have been looked at developed in America and were not always relevant to Britain where violent or criminal gangs were rarer. British work on subcultures developed from the work by Birmingham Universitys Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) established by Richard Hoggart in 1964, which criticized American approaches. The CCCS followed a Marxist perspective and focused on subcultures based around particular styles such as teds, rockers, skinheads and so forth. Rather than individual problems of status, the Birmingham school regarded subcultures as a working class young people solution to the problematic societal conditions. They argued that youth may face the double failure of not being able to achieve the goals of their parent culture or dominant culture as each new generation faces its own problems regarding local economic conditions. For example Stan Cohen (1972) suggested that working class youth subcultures in 1960s and 70s Britain develope d due to housing and employment changes that affected the working class as a whole. Communities broke down and many traditional jobs disappeared. Thus he argues that the latent function of subcultures is to express and resolve the contradictions unresolved in the parent culture (Clarke et al., 1976, Croall, 1998; Young, 2006). Croall (1998) argues that David Downes (1966) who carried out work on criminal youths in London found that they did not conform to the image suggested by American subcultural theorists, Cohen and Cloward Ohlin. Instead, delinquent activities were seen as fun mostly by youth with poor education and they did not display frustration at their lack of success. Rather than being opposed to mainstream values they were dissociated from middle class values within school or work settings. These youths formed a subculture where delinquent activities were an appealing solution to a leisure problem that simply occurred in their social circumstances. This is because they could not participate in middle class leisure pursuits (Glick, 2005, Muncie, 2009). In addition to this, Downes also argues that Matzas model under predicted delinquency. It appears as though crime is a working class male phenomenon, but this may be because of bourgeois assumptions about criminality. Crime statistics are measured in a positivist way and have shown that the lower working class have a greater tendency to commit crime. Moreover, it is the powerful class that puts pressure on the police and the criminal justice system to create a culture that serves their interest and not attract the label of criminality. One problem with subcultural theories as a whole is that they tend to ignore certain aspects linked to culture such as gender and ethnicity as well as the conflicts between dominant and subordinate groups. In addition to this, Heidensohn also criticizes subcultural theories for determinism, selectivity, conformity and anomie (Fulcher Scott, 2003; Young, 2006; Newburn, 2007). Other points to consider include the effect of labeling individuals as delinquent which may result in a process of self-fulfilling prophecy. One example of this is Jock Youngs study (1971) which found that 1960s hippie marijuana users, who took drugs as a social activity, developed a subculture that valued drug consumption only after they were labeled and targeted by the police. Regarding the mass media, moral panics are created through the amplified exposure of negative images of subcultures. These too exaggerate the activities of subculture and further reinforce dominant values and beliefs. Nevertheless, these theories have taken away the blame on the individual, as provided by classical theories of crime, and shifted it to social structures. Merton emphasized the strain between goals and means and the way criminal means would be used to attain goals where legitimate means such as education are lacking. Subcultural approaches by Cohen and Cloward and Ohlin, acknowledged the formation of subcultures as a response to a lack of status and opportunities supplied by cultural goals (White Haines, 2004; Clarke et al, 2006).

Tender Mercies Essay -- essays research papers

'Tender Mercies,'; written by Horton Foote, is a screenplay, which presents to the reader ordinary people, who are trying to live decently in an unpredictable and violent world. The reader comes to be aware of many dramatic scenes where the central characters have come to experience many complex but yet fascinating situations in their lives. Reading this screenplay the reader will come to acknowledge one of the centralized themes in 'Tender Mercies,'; which is the theme of redemption. For those who are unaware of the word, redemption as it applies to the screenplay 'Tender Mercies'; is the literary word meaning to be saved or saving someone from an experience or a situation. The reader can observe this redemption at various times through many characters, such as: Mac, Rosa Lee, Sunny, and Dixie. Each one of these characters has been redeemed by other characters or has been the redeemer of other characters. Thus, in the paragraphs to proceed, the reader will be introduced to these exa ct characters and to the situations from which these characters were redeemed from or whom they had redeemed. Alongside, the reader will also come to recognize how this theme provides the clearest reason why 'Tender Mercies'; is neither a Tragedy nor Pathos. As mentioned above, one of the centralized themes in 'Tender Mercies'; is the theme of redemption and that it can be seen through many characters, of whom is Mac. In the beginning of this screenplay, Mac is viewed as a person with a drinkin...

ECommerce: Questions with Answers

E-procurement is electronic acquisition of goods and services for organizations. Its goals are to purchase In lower prices, improve flow process, enameled maverick buying, faster purchase, and Increased productivity. . Discuss the role of intermediaries in BIB. Distinguish between buy-side and sell-side intermediaries. The role of intermediaries in BIB is to ensure buy and sell side conditional are coincide. Buy-side intermediaries involve one buyer to many sellers while sell-side intermediaries involve one seller to many buyers. 5. List the major e-supply chain management Infrastructures and enabling tools. Answer: Major e-supply chain management Infrastructures and enabling tools are DE', extranets, intranets, corporate portals, workflow systems, groupware, and Identification and tracking tools. . What are some of the major limitations of RIFF genealogy? Answer: Major limitations of RIFF technology are that cost of implementation, restriction of environments, accuracy, privacy, an d no unladed standards. 7. Define c-commerce. The use of digital technologies that enable companies to collaboratively plan, design, develop, manage, and research products, services, and innovative SEC applications. 10, 259 8. Define collaborative networks and distinguish them from traditional supply chain collaboration.Answer: The collaborative network allows partners at any point in the network to interact with ACH other directly, bypassing traditional partners. Interaction may occur among agents that act as aggregates, BIB exchanges, hubs, or logistics providers. 9. Define virtual teams, mass collaboration, and unified communication. Answer: Virtual team define as a group of employees using information and communications technologies to collaborate from different work bases. 274 Mass collaboration defines as a form of collective action that occurs when large numbers of people work independently on a single project, often modular in its nature.Wisped, 2011. Mass Collaboration. [on line] Available at: [Accessed 10 Gag 2011]. Unified communication defines as simplification of all forms of communication in the enterprise. 248 10. It is said that c-commerce signifies a move from a transaction focus to a relationship focus among supply chain members. Discuss. Answer: Since c-commerce increase communications and information flow, this tends to be more relationship focus among supply chain members than transaction focus.Part 2 Internet Exercise [2 %] 1 1 . Enter sap. Com and BEA. Mom, and find the key capabilities of their enterprise portals. List the benefits of using five of the capabilities of portals. Answer: Oracle enterprise portals offer easy integration, can customize for different business, improve communication without geographical limit, sharing information, and social computing service. SAP. Com offer single point access of information, collaboration and communication, increases people productivity, and provide managed content in the context of business applications.The benefits to those key capacities of portals are improve communication, enable elaboration within, increases productivity, improve sharing of information, and no geographical limit. 12. Enter lotus. Com and find their collaboration-support products. How do these products support groups? Answer: Messaging & collaboration Integrated collaborative environment including e-mail, calendaring and ability to extend with applications and collaboration tools. Social communications Integrated real-time collaboration services including presence, chat, voice, data, video, meetings and telephony.Online collaboration services Working together Just got easier with integrated social networking and online collaboration services from Lotuses. Social software Business collaboration and networking capabilities including dynamic profiles, wise, blobs, shared files, team spaces, and communities. Portals and mishaps Cohesive foundation to deliver exceptional user experiences enabling users personalized and compelling interactions with information, applications and people. Mobile collaboration and wireless Collaborate anywhere from your Apple, Monika, RIM or Windows Mobile device

A Rose For Emily By William Faulkner - 1496 Words

People are subject to decay and death – these are inevitable aspects of life. In â€Å"A Rose for Emily† by William Faulkner, Emily epitomizes these concepts as she attempts to hold on to the past. Emily is among the last of the Griersons – an aristocratic older family that had lost their influence after the Civil War. She is exposed to the fast changing perspectives and ideals of her town, Jefferson, and she refuses to relent as she continues to uphold her traditional southern values and social status. Emily progressively decays because she chains herself to the past and because of her uncompromising attitude towards the modernization of her environment. She then meets Homer Barron, a potential suitor from the North. However, Emily resorts to the extremes to keep him by her side and poisons him. Her intransigence encompasses her struggle to remain relevant during Jefferson’s development. Emily Grierson’s insistence on living in the past and her re fusal to change establish her as the embodiment of decay through the descriptions of her house, her stubbornness, her appearance, and the poisoning of Homer Barron. Faulkner embodies Emily as a representation of decay through the descriptions of her house. Emily’s house â€Å"that had once been white . . . on what had once been our most select street† (95) is the manifestation of her deterioration and isolation from the community. This contrast between the former grandiose appearance and the deteriorating present state of the houseShow MoreRelatedA Rose For Emily By William Faulkner923 Words   |  4 PagesA Rose for Emily; A Tale of The Old South William Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi in 1897 but lived most of his life in Oxford, a small town nearby. After dropping out of high school then briefly joining the Canadian Air Force, he returned home and completed three terms at the University of Mississippi (Fulton 27). During his early twenties Faulkner spent time in New Orleans and Europe before returning to Oxford and publishing his first book of poems. In 1929 he married Estelle FranklinRead MoreA Rose For Emily By William Faulkner1729 Words   |  7 PagesJune 24, 2015 â€Å"A Rose for Emily† In every neighborhood there is always that one house that is a mystery to everyone. A house that everyone wants to know about, but nobody can seem to be able to dig up any answers. It’s the type of place that you would take any opportunity or excuse to get to explore. The littler that is known, the more the curiosity increases about this mysterious place or person. In the short story â€Å"A Rose for Emily† by William Faulkner, this mysterious person is Emily Grierson, andRead MoreA Rose For Emily By William Faulkner949 Words   |  4 PagesIn William Faulkner’s â€Å"A Rose for Emily† it is clear how Emily’s gender affects how the individuals in the town perceive her. Emily’s gender particularly affects how men understand her. Throughout the whole piece Emily is seen as a helpless individual who is lonely and has suffered losses throughout her life. When the reader reaches the end of the story the actions that Emily has taken is unexpected because of the way she is perceived by the narrator. In the beginning of the story, when the wholeRead MoreA Rose For Emily By William Faulkner1577 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"A Sarah Markins Dr. Bibby ENG 107 February 11, 2015 â€Å"A Rose for Emily† by William Faulkner â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, written by William Faulkner in 1931, follows a series of peculiar events in Miss Emily Griersons life. Written in third person limited, Faulkner utilizes flashbacks to tell of the period between the death of Emily’s father and her own passing. Split into five short sections, the story starts out with the townspeople of Jefferson remembering Emily’s legacy and how each new generation ofRead MoreA Rose For Emily By William Faulkner1552 Words   |  7 PagesRyan Dunn Mrs. Williams English 11 March 11, 2016 In the short story â€Å"A Rose for Emily† by William Faulkner, the reader is given a glimpse of the internal conflict of the main character, living in the past, and the involvement of an over involved society causing the reader to look into the consciousness of an individual haunted by a past and lack of a future. The story is set in a post-Civil War town in the South. He is able to give the reader a glimpse of the practices and attitudes that had unitedRead MoreA Rose For Emily By William Faulkner1507 Words   |  7 Pages1897, William Cuthbert Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi. 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