Subcultural Theories

Environmental and Social Theories of Crime: Social Causes: Subcultural Theories

Introduction to Subcultural Theories

While social-structural or strain theories assume that people share similar values and differ only with respect to access to resources, subcultural theories assume that certain groups have values quite distinct from those of the rest of society. Moreover, these differences are enduring. Members of these groups will be disproportionately involved in crime because they acquire and follow the values of their group. According to the subcultural model, crime does not occur because people have been imperfectly socialized; it occurs because they have been socialized in a deviant group and acquired its values.

Some subcultural theorists maintain there is a so-called lower-class culture that emphasizes toughness, excitement, fate, and autonomy. According to these theorists, attempting to behave in a manner consistent with these values disproportionally involves lower-class people in crime. For example, individuals from a subculture that puts extreme emphasis on toughness and individual respect may respond with violence to an insult that most people would consider trivial.

Social-control theory, developed by American criminologist Travis Hirschi in the late 1960s, is a variant of subcultural theories because it emphasizes the acquisition of values. However, social-control theory stands the principal question of criminology on its head. While most theories attempt to explain why certain people or classes of people become criminals, social-control theory asks why most people do not commit crimes.

Social-control theory assumes that everyone has a predisposition toward criminal behavior. Whether or not a person acts on those predispositions depends on whether he or she has ties to groups that impart values opposing crime, such as the family, school, the community, and volunteer organizations. People with such attachments initially hold certain values because they fear sanction from these groups. Gradually, however, the values are internalized and followed because of a belief that to do otherwise would be morally wrong. People without these attachments are not deterred by threat of group sanction nor do they ultimately internalize legitimate norms, and thus they are more likely to engage in criminal activity.

Substantial empirical evidence supports social-control theory. Numerous studies have shown that known delinquents and nondelinquents differ with respect to their attachments to legitimate groups as well as their commitment to legitimate values.” (1)

Resources

Notes and References

• Information about Subcultural Theories in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia

Guide to Subcultural Theories

In this Section

Criminology, Criminology Development (including Classical Criminology, Modern Criminology, Criminology Italian School and Independent Criminology), Criminology Goals, Biological Theories of Crime (including Crime Genetic Factors and Neurological Abnormalities), Psychological Theories of Crime (including Moral Development Theories, Social Learning Theories and Personality Theories), Environmental and Social Theories of Crime (including Social Causes, Social-Structural Theories, Subcultural Theories and Economic Causes of Crime) and

Criminal Opportunity.