Functionalist explanations for deviant youth subcultures

Functionalist perspectives in sociology examine how social structures and norms contribute to deviance, particularly among young people. These views suggest that deviant subcultures emerge when individuals face barriers to achieving widely shared societal goals through legitimate means. This creates a sense of strain, leading some youth to seek alternative paths, such as forming subcultures that reject mainstream values.

Core ideas in functionalist strain theory

Strain theory, developed within functionalism, argues that deviance arises from a mismatch between cultural goals and the available means to achieve them. In Western societies, a key goal is financial success and material wealth. However, not everyone has equal access to the tools needed to reach this, such as quality education or job opportunities.

Key components of strain theory:

• Cultural goals - Shared aspirations like monetary success and consumerism, promoted through media and education.
• Means to achieve goals - Legitimate pathways, including schooling and employment, which are not equally accessible due to social inequalities.
• Resulting strain - When young people, especially from disadvantaged backgrounds, cannot succeed legitimately, they may turn to deviance as a response.

This strain can lead to participation in deviant subcultures, where youth find alternative ways to gain rewards or status.

Merton's strain theory and youth deviance

Robert Merton (1938) proposed strain theory to explain why some individuals deviate from norms. He argued that societal pressure to achieve success creates tension for those without the means, prompting innovative or rebellious responses. This is particularly relevant to young people facing limited opportunities.

Key elements of Merton's theory

Merton identified five ways people adapt to strain, but for deviant subcultures, the focus is on innovation. Innovation involves accepting societal goals but using illegal means to achieve them, such as turning to acquisitive crime (theft or robbery) or drug dealing for quick financial gains.

In the context of youth, Merton highlighted how Western education systems claim to be meritocratic (based on merit and effort) but favour wealthier groups. This leaves many young people, especially from lower socio-economic backgrounds, facing insecure jobs or unemployment. As a result, they may join deviant subcultures to pursue easy monetary success through crime.

Cohen's theory of status frustration

Albert Cohen built on Merton's ideas to explain the rise of youth gangs in 1950s American cities. He focused on how working-class youth experience frustration in achieving status, leading them to form deviant subcultures.

Status frustration refers to the tension felt by young people who cannot gain respect or recognition through conventional routes, such as education, so they seek it through alternative, often antisocial, behaviours.

How status frustration develops

Cohen argued that young people desire status and respect, which middle-class youth often gain through academic success. However, working-class youth face disadvantages.

The process of status frustration:

1. Parents of working-class youth may provide less educational support compared to middle-class families.
2. Teachers may label working-class students negatively, placing them in lower streams where success is harder.
3. This creates strain between the goal of status and the means (school), resulting in status frustration.
4. In response, youth reject school values, inverting them to award status for anti-school acts like truancy or delinquency.

This process leads to the formation of subcultures where deviant behaviour becomes a source of prestige among peers.

Examples applying Cohen's theory

Several studies illustrate Cohen's ideas in real-world contexts.

Research findings:

• Carl Nightingale's study of young Black men in Philadelphia - Nightingale examined how these youth aspired to mainstream goals of wealth and materialism but faced barriers like racism and poverty, leading them to turn to violent crime as an alternative path to material success.
• Philippe Bourgois's observations in New York - Bourgois studied Puerto Rican individuals in impoverished East Harlem, finding that many engaged in drug dealing due to poverty.

Both Nightingale and Bourgois describe a 'paradox of inclusion', where youth pursue mainstream success through crime, ironically ensuring their exclusion from society.

Cloward and Ohlin's illegitimate opportunity structures

Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin extended strain theory by emphasising that the type of deviant subculture depends on local opportunities for illegality. Not all strained youth have equal access to criminal paths; this shapes the form of deviance they adopt.

Illegitimate opportunity structures are networks or environments that provide alternative, illegal ways to achieve goals when legitimate ones are blocked.

Types of deviant subcultures

Cloward and Ohlin identified three main types based on available opportunities.

Criminal subcultures:

• These emerge in areas with established organised crime, offering a 'career' in deviance.
• Example: Sudhir Venkatesh (2008) studied drug gangs in Chicago, finding a criminal opportunity structure organised around dealing crack cocaine. Ambitious youth could build criminal careers in hierarchical drug gangs, which promoted members from 'soldiers' to managers, similar to how corporations promote workers.

Conflict subcultures:

• Found in highly deprived urban areas with territorial street gangs, often coercing youth into the gang with threats of violence.

Retreatist subcultures:

• For those who fail in both legitimate and other illegitimate paths, leading to withdrawal through drug use (e.g., heroin addiction) rather than dealing.

These subcultures show how deviance is not random but structured by local environments.

Miller's focal concerns in working-class culture

Walter Miller (1958) offered a different functionalist view, rejecting strain as the main cause. Instead, he argued that deviance among working-class youth stems from the inherent values of working-class culture itself.

Focal concerns are the core values and norms in working-class male culture that prioritise certain traits, making deviance more likely.

Key focal concerns

Miller identified values that shape working-class boys' lives outside school and work.

Core values in working-class culture:

• Heightened masculinity - Emphasis on manliness and toughness.
• Acceptance of violence - Viewing physical conflict as normal and necessary for self-protection.
• Craving excitement - Seeking thrills and risks, which can lead to delinquent acts.

These concerns give meaning to life but encourage deviance, as they clash with mainstream norms. Miller has been criticised for lacking evidence that these traits are unique to working-class groups.

Evaluating functionalist explanations

Functionalist theories provide insights into why deviant subcultures form, but they face several criticisms that question their validity and scope.

Criticisms of functionalist approaches:

• Criticism of assumptions about goals - Paul Willis's 'Learning to Labour' (1977) challenges the idea of shared goals. Willis's study of working-class boys in a UK school found they rejected education not due to frustration but because they saw no value in qualifications. This suggests working-class youth may not aspire to middle-class status, undermining strain theory.
• Overemphasis on deviance - Most working-class youth conform to school and societal rules, even with poor qualifications; only a minority join gangs or commit crimes.
• Marxist critique - Marxists argue functionalists ignore why disadvantaged youth mostly conform despite unfair treatment, focusing instead on systemic inequalities.
• Gender blindness - Cohen and others largely ignore girls, assuming deviance is mainly male, which overlooks female participation in subcultures.
• Lack of uniqueness in focal concerns - Miller's ideas are criticised for not proving these values are exclusive to working-class culture, as similar traits appear across social groups.