Focal Concerns Theory

Walter B. Miller and His Work

Miller, who held a master's degree in anthropology from the University of Chicago and a PhD in social relations from Harvard University, was considered one of America's foremost authorities on youth gangs. He was known in the Boston area as a traditional jazz trumpet player, vocalist, and member of the Blue Horizon Jazz Band. Interestingly, he found that his knowledge of and interest in music—particularly jazz, blues, and bluegrass—helped him establish a rapport with gang youths.

From 1957 to 1964, Miller directed the Roxbury Gang Delinquency Research Project for the National Institute of Mental Health. He also served on President Kennedy's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime for the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. From 1974 to 1980, Miller was project director for the National Youth Gang Survey, which was the first national survey of violence by youth gangs and groups. Additionally, he was instrumental in founding the National Youth Gang Center and served as an adjunct research consultant for the Institute for Intergovernmental Research, where until his death he oversaw research for the National Youth Gang Center Project of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice.

Miller's 1958 research article, “Lower Class Culture as a Generating Milieu of Gang Delinquency,” presented his focal concerns theory and is one of the most frequently cited articles in criminological literature. In his lower-class culture theory, Miller focused on gang delinquency and argued that the lower class has a separate, identifiable culture, distinct from the culture of the middle class, that evolved in response to living in urban slums rather than as a rejection of middle-class values. He further explained that a person who conforms to lower-class values automatically becomes “delinquent” because the values of the lower class differ from those of the middle class. Other criminologists had explained crime and delinquency in terms of subcultural values that evolved and were passed from one generation to the next in lower-class communities. Miller argued that these ideas themselves, rather than the social conditions, directly cause criminal behavior.

Miller argued that a substantial portion of American society resides in a distinct cultural system that is referred to as “lower class.” As with all cultural systems, the lower class is characterized by a set of focal concerns—areas or issues that command widespread and persistent attention and a high degree of emotional involvement. Miller chose to use the term focal concern as opposed to the term value for several reasons. First, the data were collected through direct field observation, which allows the researcher to observe a person's behavior. Miller believed that it was better to measure a person's behavior through this method rather than attempt to measure what that person may or may not perceive as important. Second, Miller thought that the term focal concern was descriptively neutral. He explained that the term value carries with it certain positive and negative connotations, whereas “focal concern” could permit independent consideration of a person's behavior. Finally, Miller believed that the term focal concern could allow for more advanced analysis of subcultural differences, since it reflects actual behavior. Thus, Miller developed the above set of six focal concerns, or characteristics, of lower-class culture that tend to foster criminal and delinquent behaviors.

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