// Criminological approach
Sociological theories of crime: structure and culture
Inequality, institutions and subcultures that generate crime. The 15 theories of the sociological: structure and culture approach, illustrated with pop-culture villains and explained with rigor.
15 theories15 with a case file
40Anomie TheoryWhen the world changes so fast that the old rules stop meaning anything, chaos—and crime—slips in through the cracks.Lou Bloom · Nightcrawler41Strain TheorySociety promises you success and then denies you the means to reach it. From that impossible gap, rage is born.Arthur Fleck · Joker42General Strain TheoryIt's not just failing to make ends meet: it's losing what you love and swallowing humiliation after humiliation until something snaps.Carrie White · Carrie43Institutional Anomie TheoryWhen money is everything and family, school and ethics just get in the way, society itself manufactures its predators.Jordan Belfort · The Wolf of Wall Street44Delinquent Subculture TheoryKids who fail by middle-class rules and, in revenge, build their own world where those rules are flipped.Los Warriors · The Warriors45Differential Opportunity TheoryNot every neighborhood offers the same crime: in some you rise through the mob; in others only violence or the needle is left.Wilson Fisk · Daredevil46Focal Concerns TheoryToughness, cunning, not being a sucker: street values that, lived to the letter, crash head-on into the law.Sonny LoSpecchio · A Bronx Tale47Subculture of Violence TheoryIn certain worlds, an insult is paid in blood. Violence isn't a glitch: it's the expected response to save one's honor.Bill el Carnicero · Gangs of New York48Code of the Street TheoryOn the lawless asphalt, respect is the only currency and it's earned through fear. Showing weakness is signing your sentence.Marlo Stanfield · The Wire49Culture Conflict TheoryWhat is honor in one culture is a crime in another. When two codes clash on the same street, someone ends up in cuffs.Vito Corleone · The Godfather50Subterranean Values TheoryWe all carry a troublemaker inside craving thrill and risk. The difference is when and where we let it out.Howard Ratner · Uncut Gems51Cultural CriminologyCrime isn't always after money: sometimes it's after adrenaline, the forbidden ecstasy of transgression. The pure pleasure of doing wrong.Mickey y Mallory · Natural Born Killers52Social Capital Deficit TheoryWhere no one trusts anyone and everyone looks out for themselves, crime grows unchecked. The loneliness of a broken community.Harry Powell · The Night of the Hunter53Advanced Marginality TheoryGhettos abandoned by the state and policed but nothing else: when the only thing that arrives is punishment, crime is what remains.Avon Barksdale · The Wire54Relative Deprivation TheoryIt's not being poor that lights the fuse: it's being poor surrounded by the rich. The inequality you see every day hurts more than hunger.Erik Killmonger · Black Panther
Frequently asked questions
What are sociological theories of crime: structure and culture?
Inequality, institutions and subcultures that generate crime. They bring together 15 criminological theories, 15 of them with a full case file on KRIMINIS.
Which theories does the sociological: structure and culture approach include?
Anomie Theory, Strain Theory, General Strain Theory, Institutional Anomie Theory, Delinquent Subculture Theory, Differential Opportunity Theory, Focal Concerns Theory, Subculture of Violence Theory, Code of the Street Theory, Culture Conflict Theory…