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Option: Youth Cultures

Delinquency, crime and youth offending

  • 3 things to know
  • Component 1 Section B

Overview

Term short-run hedonism, term illegitimate opportunity structure and what is meant by techniques of neutralisation.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Numbers

What did Albert Cohen mean by status frustration?

Numbers

How did Cohen's account differ from Merton's?

Numbers

Why did Cohen describe delinquency as non-utilitarian?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What did Albert Cohen mean by status frustration?

    Model answer

    Albert Cohen (1955) argued that working-class American boys who fail at school lose status. A delinquent subculture then offers an alternative hierarchy in which to succeed.

  2. 2

    How did Cohen's account differ from Merton's?

    Model answer

    Robert Merton (1938) explained crime as an individual pursuit of money by illegitimate means. Cohen (1955) explained group delinquency that brings status rather than profit.

  3. 3

    Why did Cohen describe delinquency as non-utilitarian?

    Model answer

    Cohen (1955) noted that much youth offending, such as vandalism, gains nothing material. The point, Cohen argued, is to invert respectable values.

  4. 4

    Define the term short-run hedonism.

    Model answer

    Short-run hedonism is the pursuit of immediate excitement without regard for consequences. Cohen (1955) treated it as a defining feature of delinquent subcultures.

  5. 5

    How did Cloward and Ohlin explain different forms of youth delinquency?

    Model answer

    Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin (1960) argued that the local illegitimate opportunity structure shapes which response develops. Criminal, conflict and retreatist subcultures each arise in different kinds of neighbourhood.

  6. 6

    Explain the term illegitimate opportunity structure.

    Model answer

    An illegitimate opportunity structure is the criminal career path available in a neighbourhood. Cloward and Ohlin (1960) argued that access to crime is unequal too.

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