Differential Opportunity Structure
Definition
The idea that access to illegitimate means of achieving success, like access to legitimate means, varies systematically by neighbourhood and social position rather than being equally available to everyone who wants it.
Related terms
- Conflict Subculture
- A delinquent subculture that forms where neither legitimate nor stable illegitimate opportunity exists, producing gang violence as a substitute route to status...
- Criminal Subculture
- A delinquent subculture that forms where a stable illegitimate opportunity structure exists, channelling youth into organised, income-generating crime such as theft rings...
- Double Failure
- Cloward and Ohlin's term for someone who fails to reach success goals through both the legitimate opportunity structure and the illegitimate one,...
- Illegitimate Means
- The skills, contacts, and criminal infrastructure, such as an established fencing network or an organised numbers racket, needed to succeed at crime,...
- Retreatist Subculture
- A delinquent subculture built around drug use and withdrawal, made up of double failures who cannot succeed through legitimate means or gain...