ble in both words and deeds, that
             are learned, transmitted from generation to generation and somewhat durable. To call such behavior
             "cultural" does not necessar- ily mean that it is "refined," but rather means that it is "cultured"--
             aquired, cultivated, and persistent. Social scientists have invented the notion of a subculture to
             describe variations, within a society, upon its cultural themes. In such circumstances, it is assumed
             that some cultural prescrip- tions are common to all members of society, but that modifica- tions
             and variations are discernible within the society. Again, it is part of the definition of a subculture, as
             of a culture, that is relatively enduring. Its norms are termed a "style", rather than a "fashion", on
             the grounds that the former has some endurance while the latter is evanescent. The quarrel comes,
             of course, when we try to estimate how "real" a cultural pattern is and how persistent. The
             standards by which behavior is to be guided vary among men and over time. Its is in this change
             and variety that crime is defined. An application of this principle to crimin- ology would find that
             the roots of the crime in the fact that groups have developed different standards of appropriate
             behavior and that, in "complex cultures", each individual is subject to competing prescriptions for
             action. Another subcultural explanation of crime grows readily out of the fact that, as we have seen,
             "social classes" experience different rates of arrest and conviction for serious offenses. When
             strata withi...