Law and Government: Criminology. What do you think is a) the principal strength and b) the principal weakness of subcultural theories?

Subcultural theories, and in particular the later work of Cohen, have tried to answer some of the unanswered questions of earlier theories such as Anomie. In doing so, subcultural theories have both introduced and expanded on several ideas, allowing their principal strengths and weaknesses to be noted. As always, the weaknesses of the theories have been subject to much more comment, but this should not detract from the fact that subcultural theories are a duly …

…made, as it doesn't prevent the completion of what was aimed for, and theories which try to be too complex often end up falling over themselves. Subcultural theories are an important area of criminology, as they entertain the idea of the importance of group activity and influence in crime. However, they are too deterministic and simplistic, and as such can only be used to point towards yet another underlying factor in the causes of crime.