CRM 2301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Machismo, Extortion, Ethnography
18 May 2016
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Document Summary
Extend anomie theory and community based observation of the chicago school. Some delinquents are in pursuit of status (agree with cohen but they take it further) but . Attracted to fast cars, fancy cloths: economic terms not middle class values. People under strain cannot become any kind of criminal they choose; they are limited by the opportunities available to them. Example: dealing in drugs is not automatically available to a square university professor as a means of supplementing her income, she lacks the skills and contacts to obtain source of illegal drugs. Illegitimate means are not available even if legitimate means are lacking. Pressures towards conventional goals and achieving middle-class values: some overcome the barriers. Interested in money, car: working and saving money. If there is a lack of legitimate opportunity search for illegitimate opportunity begins. Delinquent needs contact, must learn how to be delinquent. Disagreed with cohen assertion that gangs are formed as a reaction to status deprivation.
