Sociology 2267A/B Midterm: youthinconflict_MT
20 Oct 2015
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Introduction: youth crime draws significance from group activities, delinquency is a social and cultural phenomenon subculture theories (shaw and mackay) city life encourages crime because anonymity, short terms social relationships, weak intimate ties, alternatively, small villages have strong friendships and familial ties stability/cohesiveness, sense of loyalty (thrasher, chicago school, 1937) delinquency a consequence of urban upbringing lack of adult supervision, disorganized life lead to existence of gangs. Strain theories: strain theories: assume nonconforming behavior arises from social circumstances in which individuals experience normative confusion/disruption confronted with new/traumatic/frustrating situation (strain), some people respond in deviant/criminal manners, cause cultural norms of success (money, status, power) place strain on those who lack the means of acquisition (durkheim/merton) anomie theory merton modified durkheim"s concept by demonstrating how societies exert pressure to engage in rule breaking behavior, durkheim hypothesized that in times of strain/crisis, usual rules/restraints become weakened for some members anomie could also explain suicide.
