Gangs provide members with a means of attaining higher status and material rewards that may otherwise seem unavailable to them. Cloward and Ohlin have coined the concept of __________ to refer to this.
Illegitimate opportunity structures are the rules that operate within deviant subcultures. This structure holds the fact that crime rate in this subcultures tend to be on the high since there is little or no less punishment for crime committed.
Cloward and Ohlin emphasized that when individuals are blocked from pursuing success and wealth through a traditional and legitimate opportunity structure, they might tend to seek for wealth and success through non-traditional and illegitimate opportunity structures. These individuals tend to join gangs, become criminals etc. because the socially illegitimate groups could provide the means to gain access to material rewards and attain social status, that was originally not available to them.
