A theory holding that certain groups or subcultures develop values and attitudes conducive to crime and violence, articulated in its classic delinquency form by Albert K. Cohen in Delinquent Boys: The Culture of the Gang (1955), which argued that working class boys unable to achieve status by mainstream middle class standards respond by inverting those standards into a delinquent subculture.
Facts
Core ClaimSourced to the subject's own accountWorking class boys who cannot achieve status by mainstream middle class standards experience status frustration and respond collectively by inverting those standards into a delinquent subculture that rewards behavior mainstream society condemns. 1 Origin YearSourced to the subject's own account Standing CritiqueSourced to the subject's own accountCritics argue the theory over-generalizes lower-class youth as uniformly delinquent, underestimates individual variation, and that empirical support for a distinct, oppositional delinquent subculture has been mixed. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Critiqued Here
Sykes and Matza argue most delinquents hold broadly conventional values and merely neutralize them temporarily, challenging Cohen's picture of a wholly separate, inverted delinquent subculture.
Developed By
Informed By
Cohen built his account of status frustration on Merton's strain framework, applied to working class boys measured against middle class standards.
Sources
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