welcome to this tutor to you sociology topic video looking at subcultural theories of crime and deviance focusing on claude nolan's opportunity subcultures due to merton's strain theory as a base claude nolan also examined the impact of blocked opportunities on criminality in young males like cohen before them claude nolan suggested that young males joined subcultures in order to achieve status that they were not afforded through legitimate means however chloe nolan suggested there was a greater diversity of subcultural reactions to blocked opportunities and suggested that some cultures formed based upon the opportunities for deviance within a particular geographical area depending upon the social characteristics of the local area and the opportunities for crime young working class males would gravitate towards different forms of subculture in their research claude nolan suggested that in different geographical areas there were different opportunities to commit crime their research focused on areas within existing criminal networks areas of transition where people coming to the city would move into the cheaper housing before moving on to more secure accommodation elsewhere and other areas with limited networks of criminal behaviour from examining these areas claude nolan proposed over three distinct subcultural responses based upon the opportunities for criminal and deviant behavior that were present in these different locations these three subcultures were criminal conflict and retreatist criminal subcultures according to clare nolan were most likely to be found in areas where there had been a long-standing structure of criminal behavior and where criminal networks had been established for many years dealing in mostly utilitarian forms of crime such as prostitution protection rackets and drug dealing young men were apprenticed into crime by being employed in low level positions such as running errands dropping off drugs or low level enforcement those who displayed the right attitudes and skills were likely to progress through the organization as positions became vacant or the network expanded and for many young males this offered opportunities to achieve status and financial rewards that legitimate pathways could not claude nolan also examined areas of transition with no organized structure of criminal behavior areas of transition where people moved in and out of and community bonds were not strong tended to develop conflict subcultures due to the diverse mix of backgrounds often young males would identify with certain gangs and clash with other gangs over turf or in some instances based upon the ethnic groupings of those cultures this was a form of release from the frustrations of not being able to achieve success through legitimate or illegitimate pathways displacing their anger and frustration that society's unequal structure onto groups that were seen as others in these subcultures status was awarded for violent and criminal acts towards members of other gangs much in the same way cohen had suggested in his research according to claude nolan the final type of subcultural response was retreatists in a similar explanation to that of merton claude nolan suggested that those who did not conform to society's norms and values nor fitting with other forms of subculture would retreat from forms of wider social integration and form their own subcultural response one based upon substance abuse and petty crimes as a means to escape from their rejection by society whilst there was some evidence of networking with other groups particularly those that dealt in drugs or purchasing stolen goods there were very limited opportunities for status and so members retreated from society claude nolan's research can be seen in contemporary examples of subcultural responses in the uk over the past several decades there has been development of gang cultures particularly in areas of low socioeconomic status industrial cities such as london liverpool manchester and glasgow have long established networks of both conflict and criminal subcultures in the u.s there have been long-standing traditions of both criminal and conflict subcultures on the northeast coast and the southwestern states such as california and winlow examined the disorganized nature of criminal networks in the late 1990s in sunderland examining the role of dorman in the drug trade and this research was in part influenced by the theories of cloud nolan however critics of chloride nolan such as south suggests that the lines between criminal and conflict subcultures are often blurred particularly in the drugs and counterfeit good trades secondly khloe and nolan assume that people subscribe to the norms and values of society in the first place and that they actively seek to react against the way society has treated them this is not the case for all individuals with many opting to conform to social norms and values and find release from their frustrations through other means and a final criticism is suggested by mata who we'll look at in more detail in a separate video his ideas of delinquency and drift suggest that criminality in young males is often temporary a result of a phase in life where the norms and values of society have less meaning and crime is an attempt to assert control that concludes this tutor to you sociology topic video on subcultural theories of crime and deviance looking at cload nolan thanks for watching