By Amy, Chloe and Kerry

Richard Cloward and

Lloyd Ohlin

Illegitimate opportunity
stucture
Illegitimate

opportunity theory holds that

individuals commit crimes when the
chances of being caught are low.
Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin argue
that the type of crime committed by
young people depends on the type of
illegitimate opportunity structure that is
available to them in that area. They
identify illegitimate opportunity structures
that produce three types of subcultures.

The three types of

subcultures
Criminal
Conflict
Retreatist

Criminal subculture
The

criminal subculture is felt to exist in more

stable working class areas and is linked stronger
with property crime.

They

tend to emerge in areas where there is a lot

of organised adult crime, here there are criminal
role models for young people, and they learn how
to commit criminal acts. In these subcultures the
young people can climb up the professional
criminal ladder by committing more crimes.
These subcultures are normally concerned with
utilitarian crimes, which yield financial reward.

Conflict subculture
They

are characterised by high

levels of violence and tend to exist in
less stable populations.

Theytend

to emerge in areas where

there is little organised adult crime,
so instead of learning how to commit
serious monetary crimes the young
people instead focus on gaining
respect through gang violence.

Retreatist subcultures
Supports

values surrounding crime associated

with the use of drugs. As Jones 2006 writes the
retreatist subculture exists for the double
failures. These are the people who have neither
criminal opportunities nor the ability to compete
in a conflict group.

They

are for young people who have even failed

in the criminal subcultures. They tend to retreat
to drugs and alcohol abuse to deal with the fact
that they have been rejected from other
subcultures.