Cultural Deviance and Crime
Introduction
Cohen’s subcultural theory holds that crime results from the union of young people to create subcultures that tend to be dominated by deviant values and moral concepts. As Cohen puts it, the union of young people into subcultures is influenced by adjustment and status issues resulting from social inequalities in their society. Thus, this paper attempts to explore how to rap culture has influenced the existence of sub-cultural values as well as promoting crime among young people.
- How has rap culture perpetuated subcultural values, and promoted violence and crime among young men?
Since the mid-1980s, the rap culture had received a lot of criticism owing to its violent content. This perception has shaped the role of rap culture in society, with many people viewing it as encouraging violence. The hip hop lyrics presented by various rappers work to influence people’s perception of the United States’ criminal justice. Notably, prison and punishment in the justice system are aimed at deterring criminals from engaging in unlawful activities. Also, the stigma attached to the imprisonment approach is expected to discourage criminals from repeating their crimes. However, the hip hop culture denounces the crime and punishment by challenging the underlying system constructed by legislators for decades (Mazur, 2015).
Since the introduction of the hip-hop music genre, many artists have developed a narrative format that seeks to inform their fans and followers about the illegitimacy of the prison regime of prison. Thus, given the illegitimacy of the United States’ criminal justice system, it becomes difficult for the system to achieve its two primary aims including deterrence and stigma. The most notable thing within the hip hop culture is the harsh condemnation of inequalities underlying crime and punishment in the U.S justice system. Since hip-hop aggressively points out the crime and punishment in the United States as unfair, inequitable, and as targeting the poor and people of color, it influences individuals, particularly young people to undermine the significance of the justice system. Hip-hop culture has therefore adopted a tradition of exposing inequalities affecting the poor and people of color within the criminal justice system in the United States (Lofstrom & Raphael, 2016).
Despite the increased criticism and interference by law enforcement, the hip-hop culture has seen tremendous growth over the years, thus influencing people’s perception of the issue of race and injustice in the system. In this case, young people despise the philosophies of the system that introduce punishment to deter criminals from committing or repeating unlawful acts. Also, the aggressive approach exhibited by the hip-hop culture tends to influence young men who associate with the culture to defy the directives of the criminal justice system. This aspect has led to an increase in crime since it presents punishment as illegitimate and as targeting the minority groups in the country.
- Given its sharp deviation from conventional values and norms, how and why would theorists explain the persistence and popularity of this subculture?
While hip hop establishes the fundamental notions of purpose and identity, it influences the decisions of young people in the United States and the rest of the world. While some hip-hop songs contain positive messages, some artists use this opportunity to spread their perceptions about the criminal justice system, thus deviating from the conventional values and norms. Theorists can explain the persistence and popularity of the subculture by evaluating the motives behind the aspect. In this case, the inequalities within the criminal justice system and the poverty levels among African Americans and the Latino community tend to be the primary factors influencing hip hop artists to establish theories that tend to undermine the legitimacy of the U.S justice system (Calvert, et al. 2014).
The reason why theorists should attempt to explain the increased popularity and influence of hip-hop culture among young people is that it deeply impacts the emerging generation of leaders and scholars. As a result, the persistence of the sub-culture is likely to undermine the primary goal of the criminal justice system, preventing crime and unlawful acts. As a result, theorists and scholars ought to investigate the underlying factors that make hip-hop culture irresistible among young people. Today, social inequalities have led to divisions within the United States.
The minority groups including the Latino and the African-American communities have felt left out in the system. Also, the increased cases of the use of excessive force by the police have sparked interest among the minority groups. As a result, these acts tend to support the theories suggested by the hip-hop culture. Thus, hip-hop artists justify their lyrics and message in their songs by pointing out various incidents of racial bias in the justice system. The sudden growth of the hip-hop subculture in the United States is therefore an issue of concern especially considering the level of impact on the emerging generation.
Notably, the hip-hop culture tends to advocate for the undermining of crime and punishment, thus influencing young people to disregard the rules of law. Since being arrested and punished is linked to discrimination, many young African Americans and other minority groups continue to carry out unlawful acts and blame the justice system when arrested. Thus, theorists need to study the main causes of increased influence. For instance, this can be done by advocating for equal opportunities in an attempt to reduce poverty, thus lowering the number of unemployed individuals in society (Lofstrom & Raphael, 2016).
Reference
Calvert, C., Morehart, E., & Papdelias, S. (2014). Rap music and the true threats quagmire: When does one man’s lyric become another’s crime. Colum. JL & Arts, 38, 1.
Lofstrom, M., & Raphael, S. (2016). Crime, the criminal justice system, and socioeconomic inequality. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 30(2), 103-26.
Mazur, Zbigniew (06/01/2015). “Christiana Gregoriou, ed., Constructing Crime: Discourse and Cultural Representations of Crime and “Deviance”. European Journal of American studies (1991-9336)