skip to main content
LOTERRE

LOTERRE

Search from vocabulary

Content language

| español français
Search help

Concept information

Preferred term

focal concerns theory  

Definition(s)

  • Focal concerns theory, as posited by Walter B. Miller (1920–2004), attempts to explain the behavior of adolescent street corner groups in lower-class communities as based on six focal concerns: trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, fate, and autonomy. Miller's theory views these criminogenic influences as a learned part of the lower-class subcultural values rather than as an anomic reaction to unattainable goals. [Source: Encyclopedia of Social Deviance; Focal Concerns Theory]

Broader concept(s)

Belongs to group

URI

http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/N9J-KB4BBH9C-N

Download this concept: