Crime and Deviance AQA A2
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This document provides summaries of various sociological theories of crime, including: - Durkheim's functionalist theory and Merton's strain theory, which view crime as normal and resulting from a lack of opportunity to achieve goals. - Subcultural theories that examine how status frustration and blocked opportunities lead to deviant subcultures. - Labeling theories that view deviance as a social construct based on societal reactions, not just acts themselves. - Marxist theories which see crime as a result of inequality and contradictions within capitalist systems. - Gendered analyses of crime patterns and explanations for male and female offending. - Studies of ethnicity, criminalization, victimization and explanations for differences in off
Crime and Deviance AQA A2
- 1. Yet another clear and coherent PowerPoint by Haley
- 2. Durkheim’s Functionalist Theory To achieve solidarity society has two key mechanisms, socialisation and social control. For Durkeim, crime is normal and an essential part of all healthy societies (inevitability). The positive functions of crime: boundary maintenance, the purpose of punishment is to reaffirm society’s shared rules and reinforce social solidarity. Adaption and change, all change starts with an act of deviance (troublemakers). Davis (1937) – Prostitution is a way to relieve stress that doesn’t affect the nuclear family. Criticisms – Durkheim doesn’t say how much crime is the right amount.
- 3. Merton’s Strain Theory People commit deviant behaviour when they can’t achieve ‘socially approved goals’ by legitimate means. (Strain) Structural factors – society’s unequal opportunity structure. Cultural factors – The strong emphasis on success goals and the weaker emphasis on using legitimate means to achieve them. The American Dream – Americans are expected to achieve by legitimate means, but many disadvantaged groups don’t have the opportunities t achieve legitimately. Deviant adaptions to strain – conformity, innovation (theft), ritualism(given up), retreatism (outcasts), rebellion (reject societies goals) Evaluation – Deterministic, ignores ruling class, assumes that everyone strives for money success.
- 4. Subcultural Strain Theories Cohen: Status Frustration – Cohen focuses on working class boys, as a result of being unable to achieve status by legitimate means (education), the boys suffer status frustration. Cloward and Ohlin’s three types of deviant subcultures: Criminal – apprenticeship for crime, Conflict – High levels of social disorganisation prevents a criminal network from developing, Retreatists – ‘double failures’. Evaluation – Ignore crimes of the wealthy.
- 5. The Social Construction of Crime Not the act that makes it deviant, it’s the reaction of society. Becker –A deviant is just someone who has been successfully labelled. Whether a person is punished depends on their reputation, background, appearance, situation and circumstance. Cicourel – Police’s typifications (stereotypes) leads them to focus on working-class areas = more arrests in working class areas = confirming the stereotypes.
- 6. The Effects of Labelling Primary deviance – The act has not been publicly labelled as deviant i.e. downloading songs. Secondary deviance – the result of society reaction (label becomes master status) Deviance amplification – Trying to control deviance leads to an increase in deviance (snowball effect) Triplett – Increase tendency to see young offenders as evil and to be less tolerant of minor deviance. Two types of shaming; disintegrative – the crime and criminal is labelled as bad, reintergrative – the act is bad but not the actor. Evaluation – Deterministic, emphasis on the negative effects of labelling, assumes offenders are passive.
- 7. Traditional Marxism The structure of capitalist society explains crime. Crime is inevitable in capitalism because capitalism causes crime (criminogenic) Crime is the only way the working- class can survive. The law benefits the capitalist system, Snider (1993) – the state is hesitant to pass laws that affect a businesses’ profitability. Some laws appear to benefit the working-class i.e. health and safety but Carson (1971) found that most firms have broken health and safety laws at least once. Evaluation – Ignores other factors i.e. gender and race, and not all capitalist societies have high crime rates.
- 8. Neo-Marxism: Critical Criminology Neo-marxists combine ideas from traditional marxism and other approaches i.e. labelling. Taylor et al argue that traditional Marxism is deterministic and that we have free will. A complete theory of deviance needs to unite six aspects, the effects of labelling, the act itself etc. Evaluation – Feminists criticise it for being ‘gender blind’. Critical criminology romanticises the working- class. (Robin Hood)
- 9. Right Realism Right realist share the New Right outlook and support policies that favour a ‘get tough’ stance. The causes of crime – biological differences (low IQ), and inadequate socialisation in the underclass. Tackling crime – Right realist try to make crime seem less attractive with a ‘zero tolerance’ policy. Crime prevention policies should reduce the rewards and increase the punishment. ‘Broken Windows’. Criticism – Ignores structural causes i.e. poverty, it ignores crimes of the powerful.
- 10. Left Realism Left realism developed as a response to right realists influence on policies and rising crime rates. Left realists accuse others of not taking crime seriously. Young (1984) three causes of crime: relative deprivation, subcultures, and marginalisation. Young argues we now live in a society where stability, insecurity, and exclusion make crime worse. Tackling crime – Policing and control (Lea and Young argue that the public need to get more involved deciding policies), structural causes (deal with inequality in opportunity) Evaluation – Fails to explain corporate crime, not everyone who experiences relative deprivation commits crime.
- 11. Gender Patterns in Crime Most crime appears to be committed by males (4/5). Female crime like shoplifting are less likely to be reported. The chivalry thesis argues that men hate accusing women = criminal justice system is more lenient with women. But, they may be less likely to be prosecuted because their crimes are less serious than men’s. The court treat females more harshly than males when they deviate from gender norms i.e. double standards, court punish girls but not boys for slutty activity.
- 12. Explaining Female Crime Lombroso said that criminality is innate and there are very few born female criminals. Functionalist sex role theory (Parsons) – because Dad’s go to work, and boys turn to all-male street gangs as a source of masculine identity. Heidensohn: Patriarchal control – Women don’t have many chances to offend because society controls them (domestic role, male bosses, fear of sexual violence) Carlen: class and gender deals – women conform because they are offered material rewards, and emotional rewards. The liberation thesis – As women become more liberated from patriarchy, they will commit more crimes.
- 13. Why do men commit crime? White middle-class have to obey teachers in order to achieve middle-class status = masculine in school. White working-class have less chance of educational success. Black working-class may have few expectations of a reasonable job and may use gang membership and violence to express masculinity. Globalisation has led to the loss of many of the traditional manual jobs that allowed working-class men to express their masculinity.
- 14. Ethnicity and Criminalisation Black people make up 10% of the prison population. Alternative sources of statistics – victim surveys and self- report studies. Oppressive policing, members of ethnic minorities are more likely to be searched because of police racism. Arrests were more likely for black than for whites, ethnic minorities are more likely to elect for trial. Black and Asian defendants are less likely to be found guilty. 25% of prison population were from ethnic minority groups.
- 15. Explaining Differences in Offending Left Realist: Lea and Young (1993) argue that ethnic differences in the statistics reflect real differences in the levels of offending by different ethnic groups. Neo-Marxist: Gilroy argues that the idea of black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes. (First gen immigrants were very law abiding) Neo-Marxist: Hall et al – the myth of black criminality was a distraction from the true cause of problems such as unemployment.
- 16. Ethnicity and Victimisation Racist victimisation occurs when an individual is selected as a target because of their race, or religion. Mixed ethnic groups have higher risk. Responses to victimisation range from situation crime prevention measures such as fireproof doors and letterboxes, to organised self-defence campaigns aimed at physically defending neighbourhoods from racist attacks.
- 17. Media Representations of Crime The media over-represent violent and sexual crime. The media portray criminals and victims as older and more middle-class. News is a social construction and there are news values which journalists and editors decided whether a story is newsworthy. (i.e. immediacy and dramatisation) Fictional representations from the media are important sources of information of crime. Property crime is under-represented and violence, drugs and sex crimes are over-represented.
- 18. The Media as a Cause of Crime GTA has been criticised for encouraging violence. Some of the ways media causes crime are imitation, arousal, desensitisation, and by transmitting knowledge of criminal techniques. The media exaggerate the risks of certain groups of people becoming its victims. Gerbner et al found that heavy users of TV had higher levels of fear of crime. Left realists argue that the mass media hep to increase the sense of relative deprivation.
- 19. Moral Panics A moral panic is an exaggerated over-reaction by society to a perceived problem. Cohen looked at mods and rockers, they were throwing stones, a few windows were broken etc. The disorder was relatively minor, but the media over-reacted. The media produced a deviance amplification spiral by making it seem as if the problem was getting worse. This produced marginalisation of the mods and rockers as deviants. Moral panics often occur during social change, reflecting the worries many people feel when accepted values seem to be challenged. Criticism – It assumes that the societal reaction is over-reacting.
- 20. Crime and Globalisation Globalisation = the widening, deepening and speeding up of the world. The global criminal economy – estimated £1 trillion per year, arms trafficking, smuggling illegal immigrants, trafficking in women and children, sex tourism etc. Globalisation creates new insecurities and produces a new mentality of ‘risk consciousness’ in which risk is seen as global i.e. migration. It has allowed companies to switch manufacturing to low- wage countries, it has also created criminal opportunities on a grand scale for elite groups. The way crime is organised is linked to the economic changes brought by globalisation.
- 21. Green Crime Green crime = crime against the environment. Beck: increase in productivity has created new ‘manufactured risks’ (harm to the environment and its consequences for humanity i.e. global warming) Green criminology: White (2008) - the proper subject of criminology is any action that harms the environment /the human and animals within it. Even if no law has been broken. Two views of harm: anthropocentric (human-centred) and ecocentric (environment first) Primary green crimes directly effect the environment, secondary green crimes indirectly affect the environment. Evaluation - strengths and the weaknesses of green criminology come from its global environmental concerns.
- 22. State Crimes State crime is the illegal or deviant activities committed by, or with the help of state agencies. State crime is one of the most serious forms of crime because the scale can be extremely large with widespread victimisation, and the state is a the source of law. Definitions of human rights: natural rights – rights to life, liberty and free speech. Civil rights – rights to vote, privacy etc. We should define crime in terms of the violation of basic human rights, rather than the breaking of legal rules. The social conditions of state crimes – authorisation, routinisation (pressure to turn the crime into a routine so you can perform it again in a detached manner), dehumanisation (enemy is portrayed as sub-human).
- 23. Crime Prevention and Control Clarke: situational crime prevention reduces opportunities for crime, he identifies three features of measures aimed at situational crime prevention: they are directed towards specific crimes, they involved managing or altering the immediate environment of the crime, they aim at increasing the effort and risks of committing crime and reducing the rewards. Criticism – they do not reduce crime, they displace it. Wilson and Keeling: disorder and the lack of control leads to crime. Their solution is and ‘environmental improvement strategy’ and a zero tolerance policing strategy. Social and community prevention strategies focus on potential offenders and their social context. Perry Pre-school project showed that an intellectual enrichment programme worked.
- 24. Surveillance Surveillance = The monitoring of public behaviour for the purposes of population or crime control. Faulcoult: Birth of the Prison – two difference types of punishment: sovereign power (physical punishment i.e. branding) and disciplinary power (seeks to govern the mind by surveillance) Criticisms – Exaggerates the extent of control (Goffman shows how some people can resist control). Synoptic surveillance – the media enables the many to see the few (synopticon – where everyone watches everyone i.e. dashcams) Labelling and surveillance – CCTV operators judge who would be potential suspects = massively disproportionate targeting of young black males.
- 25. Punishment Reduction - One justification for punishing offenders is that it prevents future crime. This can be done through deterrence (punishing the individual), rehabilitation (to change offenders), and incapacitation (remove the offenders capacity to offend again i.e. execution) Retribution – ‘paying back’ Durkheim argues that the function of punishment is to uphold social solidarity and reinforce shared values. Marxism: capitalism and punishment – The function of punishment is to maintain the existing social order.
- 26. The Victims of Crime Positivist victimology – positivists aim to identify the social and psychological characteristics of victims that make them different/more vulnerable. Criticism – ignores structural factors i.e. poverty. Critical victimology- Based on conflict theory. Focuses on structural factors and the states power to apply or deny the label of victim. Evaluation – Ignores the role that victims play i.e. not locking their door. Patterns of victimisation – the poor, young, ethnic minorities and men are more likely to be victimised. The impact of victimisation – Crime may have serious physical and emotion impacts on its victims.