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Subculture Of Crime Analysis

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In this article, as the title suggests, it explains the use of social class differences to explain racial differences in crime. Among earlier arguments are the subculture of violence and subculture of poverty theories, which argue that African Americans tend to have pro-crime norms and values. The article's author, Robert D. Crutchfield, goes in depth with recent and more advanced theories to explain the link between poverty, crime, and race, while criticizing the subcultural theories. These new theories tell a different view from that of the subcultural theories with evidence showing that economic disadvantage and the way how society is structured accounts for the link between poverty, crime, and race. From these evidence, ethnographers conclude …show more content…

Two different subculture theories link racial differences in crime to racial differences in social class: the subculture of violence theory particular the one proposed by Marvin Wolfgang and Franco Ferracuti and various theories on subculture of poverty. The subculture of violence is a theory that states that high rates of violence in inner-city communities existed because the people who live in the area carried pro-violence values and norms. The idea behind this is that people living in violent areas will become very use to the violence, allowing for people to normally carry the norms and values behind violence, therefore the people will be more violent. With that in mind, the subculture of poverty thesis says that the values of the poor directly cause crime because people with a certain kind of characteristics tend to engage in crime rather than patiently wait for opportunities. In addition to the subculture of poverty theory, people in poverty indirectly cause crime because their values do not hold education and hard work as high as those in more well off …show more content…

They considered other factors that may lie in those numbers. In this case, where crime is prominent they account that people try to seek protection of themselves and their possessions. Likewise, those who are disadvantaged, lead to more frequently to commit property and other crimes to satisfy wants and desires (Crutchfield 27). From this, one can simply conclude that people living in such conditions are trying to survive. With this in mind, residential segregation is more focused on African Americans. This is in part because of a history of unequal opportunities in the job market, education, and housing for disadvantaged African Americans. It is especially true when more prosperous African Americans manage to leave ghettos, the disadvantaged African Americans are in a more concentrated poverty (Crutchfield 26). Furthermore, Crutchfield adds in his article a study conducted in Mercer Sullivan's Getting Paid that job opportunities are influenced by neighborhood characteristics: work prospects in the area, available networks, and the linkage between the employment of adults and where they worked (30). In addition to that, in 2003, Devah Pager looked into how incarceration can affect employment to understand how class is linked to race. She concludes that African American men without a criminal record were less successful in landing an interview than whites with a record,

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