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CULTURE DEVIANCE AND GANGS

Society and the attitudes and actions of individuals are governed in large part by social norms. Norms, defined by psychologists, are “[t]he implicit (not spoken of …) or explicit (openly talked about) rules of a group concerning the appropriateness or inappropriateness of certain values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors” (Fournier). In this framework, the group institutes its own “laws” which define and govern a person’s behaviors and dictates what punishments might be inflicted on someone who fails to follow the rules of the group. Researchers from the University of Minnesota Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition describe culture as the “shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding … learned through a process of socialization” (CARLA). Within society, different cultures and subcultures (“subdivision[s] within the dominant culture that [have their] own norms, beliefs and values” (Adler 92)) tend to have their own unique or varying set of norms that must be followed. In some subcultures, a system or acceptance of cultural deviance can be commonly present and accepted, even encouraged.
Cultural Deviance and Social Disorganization Contributing to Delinquency

Various behaviors, even illegal ones, might be condoned or expected in certain subcultures, even as they deviate from the dominant culture’s accepted norms. Noted criminologist Ruth Rosner Kornhauser challenged the common view of the time that cultural norms and values are all relative, and introduced the concept of cultural deviance to the field and study of criminal justice (Maahs 515). In her theory, Kornhauser states that humans’ “actions, motivations, wants, and needs are learned from their culture” and that the socialization of individuals within a culturally deviant group is the proximate cause of an individual’s deviant behavior (Maahs 516). She also furtherexplains that social disorganization contrib