Cohen’s Theory on Delinquency and Cloward and Ohlin's Differential Opportunity Theory

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Cohen’s Theory on Delinquency.
Albert K. Cohen asserts that most of the young criminals in society are due to delinquent subcultures. According to him, when young people face similar social conditions, parallel ideas tend to emanate from them, resulting in subcultures that go against the moral ideologies of the larger society. He argued that most of the time, delinquents do not have the means to achieve societal class and, consequently, form gangs that upset the typical ways in which societal status is achieved (Albert et al., 1958). For instance, while the society would confer status on academic achievement, the gangs confer status on academic failure.
Cloward’s and Ohlin’s Theory of Differential Opportunities.
Cloward and Ohlin’s theory of differential opportunities assumes that criminals' motives, methods, and justifications are learned through groups of offenders. According to this theory, deviant actions are because of the pressure to adjust and lack of legal opportunity, especially among the lower-class individuals (Gottfredson 1990). This theory further asserts that criminal behav...