Many theories of deviance are based on the pictures revealed by crime statistics, which are provided by the police, the courts, and other government agencies involved in law enforcement. The statistics consistently show which groups are more involved in crime than others. The working class, the young, males and members of some ethnic minorities are all more likely to commit and be victims of crimes rather than the middle class, the elderly, females, and whites - according to official data.

Some sociologists have taken the figures gathered in these statistics at face value and then have gone on to explain why such groups are seen as `criminals'. Albert K. Cohen (1955) is one sociologist who did just that. Cohen assumed that it was the working class men who are the main offenders. He...