Differential Opportunity Theory

1. Like Albert Cohen Richard Cloward and Loyd Ohlin tried to understand the development of delenquient gangs. Thier theory is known as Differential Opportunity Theory. Unlike Cohen , however they did not see the gang arising out of a reaction to middle class values. They in fact felt it developed out of a process that was separate totally from the middle class.

2. They felt that people joined gangs for economic opportunity.They stated that the organization of the nieghborhood determined the level of economic opportunity. This was closely associated with nieghborhood stability. This level of stability could then determine the types of gangs that could form
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3. The idea is that since legitimate opportunities in the economy are limited, so are the illegitimate. Competetion exsists for criminal jobs.

4. This leads to the development of three types of gangs.
   • The Criminal gang- a gang that focuses on crimes that will earn them money. This gang will usualy try to stay "out of sight" and will only recruit new members based on potential skills in crimes such as bugarlry. This gang reguires a stable niegborhood to work in.
   • The Conflict gang- a gang that is foun in more transient niegborhoods. the focus of this gang is obtaining status through toughness. Loyalty to the gang is all important. The status in the gang is determined by the apperance of being tough.
   • The Retreatist gangis a group who does not have the skills of the criminal gang or the ability to make it in the conflict gang. This group will simply hang out together around the behavior of doing drugs or drinking or possibly sex.

5. In Differential Opportunity Theory we see the combination of Strain, Social Disorganizatio, and Differential Associaation Theory.