Most young people are members of various subcultures within the community. A subculture can be defined as a group adhering to different values from those of the major culture. Researchers have examined the subculture deviance that emerges when the entire group portrays deviant values and breaks off from the societal cultures. The present paper focuses on how the rap culture has led to subcultural values and how it has promoted crime and violence among the youth.
According to Cohen, subcultural theory and crime are related. Crime emerges due to young people getting into subcultural unions that have deviant values and prevailing as morals concepts (Cohen, 1955). Due to adjustments and the presence of status issues, young people have formed unions which have led to such subcultures due to societal inequalities. The delinquent subcultures are mostly deviant morals and values, which ensure members, are recognized and respected. The behavior of groups within the subcultures is significantly different from societal expectation due to the incorporation of many new norms. The society regards the delinquent subculture to be deviant and sometimes criminal. Generations have continuously accepted these socially unacceptable values in which youths start acting contrary to the dominant value system due to feelings of exclusion (Stankiewicz, 2008). Many young men have gained status by intimidating others, being malicious, rebelling in school/law and causing trouble in general.
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Rap culture has contributed significantly to the emergence of such subcultural values that advocate for violence and crime for young men. The culture of rap and hip-hop music has misogynistic words that influence the views of listeners regarding violence in intimate relationships (Prushank, 2007). According to Adams, misogyny is a form of hatred for women as it reduces their value to objects to be abused and used and owned by men (Adams, 2006). Popular rap and hip-hop artists, such as 50 Cent and Tupac Shakur, have continuously depicted women to be objects of male domination and violence. Their message is that women submission is a desirable quality. These kinds of words approve violence against women in terms of torture, rape, and abuse, which sexually objectify and degrade women. These themes are associated with rap and hip-hop, which have been increasing since the late 1980s. Today women are highly perceived as sexual objects and are affected significantly by sexual violence.
The largest group consuming rap music is between sixteen to thirty years of age. The misogynistic message that advocates for relationship violence and sexual aggression has desensitized these groups. This age bracket comprises of college students who are highly influenced by the sexually explicit media that portrays women negatively in the rap culture. Young men learn that aggression and violence towards women are related to masculinity. Rap has also celebrated physical abuse among women, a sense of masculinity that sustains and supports misogyny (Armstrong, 2001).
Cohen’s subcultural theory has a unique feature that only applies to juvenile delinquency, but not to the broader scope of criminal behavior. Such subcultural differences emerge from inequality and structural conditions in the society, hence the urge to express such social differences. Behavioral expectations of such groups are deviant from the society norms, although the subculture considers them to be normal. Criminals in the subcultural settings do not consider themselves to be criminals or rather to be engaging in any criminal acts (Cohen, 1955). Since they are members of the subculture, they are expected to behave differently depending on norms and values that make them deviants of the significant societal mainstreams. Hence, a fact that is deemed criminal and deviant by one person can be considered reasonable and conformal by another individual, or even necessary due to personal system norms and values prescription.
In conclusion, Rap culture has greatly influenced the emergence of subcultural values that are related to violence and crime among the youth. Rap contain misogynistic message that influence listeners to act violently. Members of the subcultures do not consider themselves to be criminals or even to be engaging in any criminal activities. Subcultural members are expected to behave differently in accordance to norms and values that make them deviants of the major societal mainstreams.
References
Adams, T. &. (2006). The words have changed but the ideology remains the same: Misogynistic lyrics in rap music. Journal of Black Studies , 36, 938–957.
Armstrong, E. G. (2001). Gansta misogyny: A content analysis of the portrayals of violence against women in rap music, 1987-1993. Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture , 96-126.
Cohen, A. K. (1955). Delinquent Boys: The Culture of the Gang. New York: Free Press.
Prushank, D. (2007). Masculinities in teen magazines: The good, the bad, and the ugly. Journal of Men’s Studies , 160–177.
Stankiewicz, J. M. (2008). Women as sex objects and victims in print advertisements. Sex Roles , 58, 579-589.
