Sy3 understanding power and control

SY3- understanding Power and
Control
Sociology, Miss /Terry

Specific background theories…
Background theories, personally found:
• Functionalist
• Subcultural
• Marxist
• interactionalist

Functionalist theory
• Anomie- Durkheim’s word to describe crime and deviance
caused by lack of integration into society's norms and values.
• Durkheim- began by assuming there are collectively shared
vales, therefore needing to know why a minority behave in a
deviant and criminal way, by not conforming. He saw that
while some deviants are dysfunctional, he saw deviance as
normal, universal and even functional. He saw how deviance
could sometimes move society forward. But he also values
the importance of punishment and reinforcement.
• Merton’s strain theory (1938)- he introduces the important
explanation of blocked opportunity's to explain crime. He
notices that not everyone has the same opportunities to
achieve their goals, so they may turn to crime. He changed
the meaning on anomie to be the means of breakdown
between goals and the means of achieving them.

Subcultural theory
American subcultural theorist:
• Cohen- rule breaking became a source of status for young,
white, working-class boys.
Marxist subcultural theory:
• CCCS (1970’s-80’s)- they argued that spectacular youth
cultures were a form of resistance within capitalism.
• Cohen- viewed skinheads as providing a symbolic solution
to youth disillusioned from rising unemployment, poor
housing and the decline of the tradition working-class
community.
• Mike Brake- saw youths response as magical in that it wss
an illusion that appearing to solve their problems but in
reality the problems of capitalism remained.

Marxist theory
• Laurance Snider (1993)- argues that most serious acts of
crime are committed by large corporations, but
governments are reluctant to pass laws that threaten
profitability.
• Hazel Croall (1992)- notes that corporate crime is softened
by the use of words such as, con, fiddle and rip-off.
• Neo-marxists, Taylor and young (1972)- portrayed how
working class crime is against the unfairness of capitalism.
• Jeffery Ross (2000)- Marxists are now realising that the
state itself can be involved in crime. He recognised 3
different types of state crime: crimes committed by one
country on another, crimes that involved direct and indirect
actions of the state apparatus and crimes of omission.

Internationalist labelling theory
• Becker-Social groups create deviance by creating
the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance,
and by applying those rules to particular people
and labelling them as outsiders”
• Lemert (1972)- supports Becker’s ideas defining
deviant acts as primary deviance and their social
reaction as secondary deviance.
• Cohen- his concept of folk devils illustrates the
labelling process whereby groups become
demonised as deviant and a threat to the moral
welfare of society.

Power and social control
Key-words
• Power- an individual or group has power when they are able to get
what they want despite opposition from other people.
Sources of power
• Coercion- involves the use of force, people obey because they feel
they have no other choice.
• Authority- when we willingly obey to an individual or group
because we see it as the right thing to do.
Formal social control Informal social control
The law Media
Government Domestic violence
The police Role modelling
socialisation
patriarchy
False class

Why do people commit crime?
• To look superior
• To gain power
• To survive (underclass)
• Boredom
Who is likely to commit crime?
• The underclass
• People from urban areas
• Lower classes
• Upper classes (etc. Fraud)
• Males
• Ethnic groups (afro-carribean
Crime trends:
• Males are more likely to commit crime
• 14-25 year olds are more likely to commit crime
• In the 1990’s crime rates were higher
• Unskilled workors have higher crime rates
• Blacks are more liekly to be searched on the street.

Theories…
Key-words
• Deviance- going against social control.
• Informal social control- unwritten rules.
• Formal social control- written rules.
• Crime- breaking the law

Biological theories
• Lombroso (1876)- argued that the criminal is a separate species, a
species that is between modern and primitive humans. He argued
that the physical shape of the head and face determined the "born
criminal".
• the physical makeup of a person makes them criminal.
• William Sheldon (1942)- suggests that humans could be grouped
into three body types. Ectomorphs, Endomorphs, Mesomorphs.
“The mesomorph seeks and needs vigorous physical activity, enjoys
risk taking and is adventurous.” Sheldon argued that the
mesomorph is likely to have a high pain threshold, will be
aggressive and callous and may be ruthless.
• (Gene mapping shows that there maybe a gene that links to
criminal behaviour)
Nobbs’s suggestion’s for causes of delinquency:
• Instinct of aggression
• Mental and physical inadequacy

Social psychology
• Eysenck- criminals are different in their mental
structure
• (Social experience has lead to incorrect thinking.)
• Instinct of aggression
• Mental and physical inadequacy
• Over-identification with the media
• Parental discipline
• upbringing

Structural theories
• Park and Burgess (1920s)- saw cities as consisting of five zones:
• Zone I - Central buisness
• Zone II - Zone of Transition
• Zone III - Working Class Homes
• Zone IV - Middle Class Homes
• Zone V - Commuters
– Results: The highest crime rate was found to be located in the zone that had been
labeled Zone II (zone of transition)
• Bursik (1988)- Social disorganization is defined as an inability of community
members to achieve shared values or to solve jointly experienced problems.
• Sampson (1985)- argued that unshared parenting strains parents' resources of
time, money, and energy, which interferes with their ability to supervise their
children and communicate with other adults in the neighborhood.
• Working of society is at fault
• Social structures create criminals
• Marxism blames capitalism as poverty leads to crimes.
• Functionalists see crime as a product of social consensus
• Sense of injustice at an unequal society
• Neglect
• Spoiling of children

Labelling theories
• Becker- “Social groups create deviance by creating the rules whose
infraction constitutes deviance, and by applying those rules to particular
people and labelling them as outsiders”
• Piliavin and Briar (1964)- found that police decisions to arrest youths were
mainly based on appearance – if you’re loitering at night, dress well and you
won’t get arrested.
• Stanley Cohen (1972)- studied Mods and Rockers and noted press
exaggeration created a series of moral panics, leading to higher prosecution
levels and thus higher levels of deviance. Those at the centre of the moral
panic are made into Folk Devils. (deviance amplification)
• if someone is labelled as a criminal they live up to that status.
• (They define themselves as having criminal identities.)
• Being misunderstood at school
• Over-identification with the media

Sub-cultural theories
• Cohen- argued that status was a desire valued by society. He argues that
young working-class, males are denied such status after failing In the
education system and later in work, so they form gangs, in which they are
assigned different statuses. Cohen argues that whether the group was
approved by society or not it still gives young males a way to define their
status and feel power. This portray these young males as delinquent.
• Cloward and Ohlin (1961)- identified 3 types of delinquent subcultures:
criminal subculture: where the opportunity is present, conflict subculture:
forming gangs out of frustration and lack of opportunities, and retreatist
sub-culture: those who failed to succeed to be part of a criminal or conflict
subculture result to drug and alcohol abuse.
• Deviant norms and values cause criminal behaviours
• Socialisation within families is a major cause
• Form criminal groups to attain desires
• Spoiling of children
• Weak parental discipline
• Neglected upbringing

Post-modernism
• Henry and milovanovic (1996- suggest crime should be taken beyond the
narrow legal definitions to a wider conception of social harm, embracing all
threats and risks to people perusing increasingly diverse lifestyles and
identities. They suggest that crime shouldn’t just be considered as breaking
the law but as people using power to show disrespect for others by causing
harm.
– Harms of reduction-power is used to cause a victim to experience some
immediate loss or injury.
– Harms of repression-power is used to restrict future human development.
• Foucault (1991)- pointed out that surveillance is getting into our personal
life's more and more, due to things like CCTV. In modern society people are
seen as consumers and customers rather than citizens with rights, they are
brainwashed into avoidance of social harm.
• Klages (1997)- “Every attempt to create ‘order’ always demands the
creation of an equal amount of ‘disorder’”
• Postmodernists say other theories ignore the uniqueness of criminal acts.
• Its pointless to explain crime with an overall theory
• Theories are now out dated with new technology (CCTV)
• Everyone is capable of making mistakes given a unique set of
circumstances

Social construction of crime and
deviance
• Deviant behaviour:
– Differs from the normal
– Incurs public disapproval
– Subject to some form of sanction (negative)
• Giddens (1998)- ‘non conformity’ to a given norm, or set of norms, which are
accepted by a significant number of people in a community or society.
Key-word
• The OED defines crime as and act punishable by law, as being forbidden by statute.
crime is therefore a specific act of deviance that breaks society's formal rules or laws.
crime both deviance
murder Underage drinking in your
own home
Anorexia/Eating disorders
theft speeding swearing
robbery Downloading music Dressing inappropriately
Watching DVD’s when your
under the age restriction

• Deviant behaviour differs between cultures, time
periods and sub-cultures.
• Before industrialisation crimes were typically religious
in nature (heresy, sacrilege and blasphemy.)
keyword
• White collar crime- business crime, usually money
linked.
Marxists argue there is an enormous amount of white
collar and corporate crime.
Becker (1963)- highlights the social construction of
deviance by stating:
– No action in itself is deviant
– It has to excite some social reaction from others
– It depends upon who commits it and what action is taken
about it.

London riots
How did the anti-social behaviour that occurred during the London riots
escalate the riot?
Antisocial behaviour occurred and escalated during the London riots
of august 1011. the escalation occurred for many reasons, many riots were
caused due to the Mark Duggan police shooting, but family members and
acquaintances of Mark Duggan say that they began to protest in a sensible
manor. As the riots escalated its said that this was down to opportunism,
copy-cat behaviour and that mainly the working-class were driven by lack of
money, blaming the recession for their behaviour.
it could be argued that the riots escalated due to media
exaggeration, making even the most well behaved of people think deviant.
The media also made surrounding city’s aware leading the deviant and
criminal behaviour to spread.
some described the riots as ‘payback’ for not just the shooting but
for company's that rejected job application and the rising prices of the
recession characteristics, overall its believed that opportunism influenced
the people of London to act in this terrible way.

Recording of crime
• Police recorded crime:
• Official crime statistics that are published by the home office.
• Its argued that this isn't a true reflection of crime, because it only reflects recorded crimes
• British crime surveys:
• Published by the home office the survey is an annual victim survey that 45,000 households complete.
• In 2010 this was calculated approximately double the police recorded surveys rate.
• However this does not include citizens under 16.
• Victim surveys:
• The BCS is an example of these, they simply measure the number of times people have been victims within the last
12 months of completing the survey.
• Theses surveys include crimes that people are unlikely to report to the police as well as ones that are likely to be
recorded.
• Relying on people's memory is a problem as recollections may be incorrect or biased.
• Sometimes people put crimes into the wrong categories.
• Surveys exclude white-collar crimes such as fraud and corporate crime: these become effectively 'invisible crimes'.
• Doesn't report victimless crime.
• Self-report studies:
• These ask people to honestly admit to crimes they have committed over a period of time.
• However people can exaggerate or forget when they are answering specific questions.
• Anne Campbell- gave a self-report study to young females and found they had almost as high a crime rate as young
males.
• Steven Box- argued that if petty crime was removed then the male-female ratio was closer to the official one: 5:1.
he also argues self-report studies suffer from issues of validity, representativeness and relevance:

• Keywords:
• Cuffing of crime-
• Dark figure of crime- The amount of unreported or
undiscovered crime, which calls into question the reliability
of official crime statistics.
• GBH- Grievous bodily harm.
• OCR-
• CJS- Corpus Juris Secundum, An authoritative legal
encyclopaedia that provides general background
knowledge of the law with footnoted citation to relevant
case law
• BCS- British crime survey

Theoretical understanding of crime
statistics- Left Realism
• Statistics have some value and shouldn’t be
rejected.
• They accept that typical offenders are young,
male, working-class, black people.

statistics- Functionalism
• They accept crime statistics uncritically.
• Started with the view that crime is a young,
working-class, male phenomenon.
• There is a function for everything, including
why people commit crime, and what type do
it for what reasons.
• Positivist’s- like quantitative data.

statistics- Interactionism
• See crime statistics as useless.
• They are a distortion of reality.
• Statistics are social constructions that tell us
nothing about the level of crime.

statistics- Marxism
• See lower working-class people as the ones
more likely to commit crime, not considering
other factors.
• Fraud and other middle-class-upper class
crimes are over looked and are less likely to be
punished because of bias of the judges e.c.t
being the same class.
• JWB Douglas- immediate gratification.

statistics- Feminism
• Woman are seen as domestics and so are seen
not be classed as a factor affecting crime.
• Domestic crimes are ignored and unreported.
• Men don’t seem to report crimes against
woman.
• Woman may be embarrassed to report crime
of a sexual nature for example.

Statistical explosion in a risk society
• Ulrich Back (1995)- coined the term ‘risk society 'to refer to
the shared knowledge of contemporary risks, including
rising crime.
• We have became more aware of things (E.g. Global Warming)
• Mike Maguire (2002)- note how we are bombarded with
data not just from the home office but researchers,
agencies and even victims. This adds to our knowledge and
fear.
• Garland (2001)- argues in late modernity we lost
confidence in governments. This explains why
• when officially the crime read is falling, many people
believe it is still rising.
• Having more knowledge and awareness can allude us to believe
different things or disagree.

Acts
Political: counter terrorism act 2008
• Removal of the prohibition on post-charge
questioning.
• Longer terrorism sentences.
• Monitoring of those convicted of terrorism, the
sex offenders register.
• New types of evidence: “Intercept evidence”
– CCTV- around 1.5 million cameras in
airports, stations, city centres and big UK
shops.
– A single person is captured 30 times a day
on CCTV.
Football banning orders
• Stops potential troublemakers from
traveling to matches, home or abroad.
Forced marriage unit (FMU)
• Joint with home office
• In 2009 advice was given to 1682 cases
• 14 % men, 86% woman
Zero Tolerance policies
• Since 1993, major crime in NYC has fallen by 39%,
murder by 49%.
• Dept. Supt. Mallon, delivered a promise to cut
crime by 20% in 18 months.
Criticisms
• Negative consequences of aggressive policing with
accusations of heavy- handedness by police.
• Other reasons for falling crime.
• Long-term effects are unknown.
• Works well in densely populated areas.
• Crime rates lowered18-20 years after abortion was
legalised, perhaps getting rid of criminals
themselves.
Anti-social behaviour
• Acceptable behaviour contracts
• An invention to engage the individual in
recognising their behaviour and its negative
effect on others in order to stop the
offending behaviour.
• Community service
• Unpaid, usfull work, for communities
benefit
• Between 80-300 hours within six months, in
offenders free time.
Expansion of imprisonment
• Plans for 8000 new prison places.
• Provides an extra 8000 cells over 5 years
• Prisons are at “Bursting point”, jail only serious
criminals.
• 83000 prisoners in England + wales, some prisoners
held in police station cells to ease overcrowding.

Does prison work?
YES NO
It does detain people Some people may not see it as
a punishment but an easy life
Safe place for vulnerable
offenders
People still reoffend
May change peoples lives “Universities of crime”
Humiliation for the white
collar crime
Criminals becomes friends
Light sentences have a limited
incentive for reform
75% of prison population have
a mental illness (prison a
substitute of a hospital.)
53% reoffend

• Michael Foucault: Because of CCTV, we are all essentially
prisoners. We are under surveillance all the time.
1. Crime committed perpetrator
2. Reported bystander
3. Investigated CID/ Police
4. Arrested police
5. Prosecution lawyer
6. Trial judge/ jury
7. Verdict (acquittal, fine) judge
8. Incarceration prison officers
9. Reform/ punishment parole officer
10. Release parole officers/ public

Keywords:
• CPS- crown prosecution service
• HMCS- her majesty's court service
• NOM- national offender management
• HMPS- her majesty's prison service
• NPS- national probation service
• LSC- legal services commision
• Victim support
• HMIC- her majesty's inspectorate of constabulary.
Functions of the police:
• Maintaining order and keeping peace.
• Surveillance of the general public to ensure civil and lawful
behaviour.
• Reporting and apprehending violators of law.
• Discouraging crime.
• Legal authority to make arrests.
• Emergency support.

Internationalist: Holdaway
Inside the British police (1983)
• Concepts- occupational culture of policing, canteen culture.
• (micro) approach using covert participate observation method to
examine culture of the police.
• Holdaway decided to record his experience within the police force.
• He witnessed police officers being over aggressive., however his
admits not reporting this at the time.
• He took secret notes, to keep even his friends from knowing his
observations.
• His fellow sergeants were known to use unorthodox techniques.
• Holdaway was happy to share his observations and notes.
– Reliable
– No hawthorn effect
– “stressfully
– sometimes he admitted he wouldn’t take notes as he was too engrossed in his work.

Crime and victims
• A majority of crime is carried out by men and includes
the use of violence.
• 25% of serious violence takes place within the home
(where woman should feel secure.
• 1 in 4 woman are victims of domestic violence. 1 in 10
each year. Subject to under-reporting.
Domestic violence:
• Betsy stanko (2000)- found an act of domestic violence
is committed every 6 seconds in Britain.
• Estimate that 25% of all violent crimes committed are domestics.
• In 47-70% of cases the father inflicts violence on the children as well
as the mother.
• BMA report on domestic violence (1998)
• Violence ranges from being punched, choked, burnt, starved or
knifed to be forced into sex against your will.
• domestic violence is more likely to occur during pregnancy.

Crime and victims
• Meanings of domestic violence:
• Public admissions of the violence presented in their family can make woman
feel a strong sense of failure.
• Support for partners is not always forthcoming from police, family or the
welfare service.
• The police traditionally regarded domestics as private matters and reluctant to
interfere.
• From 90’s the home office have instructed the police to treat domestic violence
in the same way as any violence.
• Rape:
• 1 in 20 woman aged 16-60 had been raped, 45% by their current partners.
• Assisted with power.
• Rapists appear to only be aroused after they have terroised and degraded their
victim.
• Susan Brownmiller (1975)- argues that rape is part of a system of male
intimidation keeping woman in fear.
• Carbine (2000)- hierarchy of victimisation placed victims of assualt in order of
public sympathy
– Child
– Elderly
– Young man
– Homeless

victimisation
Characteristics of a victim:
– People living in poorer areas with high crime rates, may not have the
insurance to afford recovery and help.
– Males are more likely to be victims of assault in the workplace and of
violent attacks, by other men in public places. (aged 16-24).
– Females are more likely to be victims of domestic crime, stalking and
sexual violence.
– Young people are more likely to be at risk of crime than
adults.(violence from parents or carers.) children under the age of one
are more likely to be murdered.
– Theft and other bullying strategies are underreported and are more
common against younger victims.
– Young males who have committed crimes are more likely to become
victims.
– Elderly abuse is underreported and estimate of 5% of pensioners are
victims. Occasionally victims of family abuse.
– Ethnic minorities are at greater risk than whites, for racial violence.
– The macpherson report (1999) found ethnic minorities over-policed
and under-protected.

Hidden victims and offenses
• Underreporting due to publics embarrassment, or
they are trying to protect the offender.
• Offences against the young as only adults are
questioned.
• Offenses some people don’t think of as crime
(marital rape)
• When people don’t know they have been a victim of
crime (fraud)
• Victimless crime (underage drinking)
• Crimes against companies.
Street crimes, and crimes that are shown or reported
by the media more often have distorted peoples
images of crimes

Feminist views
• Female victims are under represented in official statistics
• Domestic violence is down to unequal power within a
relationship.
• Domestic violence is a form of patriarchal power and
control.
• Woman have a fear of crime
• Stanko (2000)- suggests woman have to restrict their
behaviour by not appearing too provocative in behaviour
and appearance.
• 79% of rapes are committed by men who know the victim,
and over 50% of rapes are a repeat by the same offender.
• Male violence not only happens within the home but also
in the work place.

Marxist and left realist views
• White collar crime victims are under represented in the
official statistics.
• Minority ethnic groups are most likely at risk from personal
crimes such as street robbery, partly because they are more
likely to live in inner cities.
• Some people are prone to multiple victimisation.
• Some people alter their lives to avoid crime (fear)
• See real value in victim studies
• Left realism- Islington crime survey: 36% of local residents
saw crime as a major problem, 56% anxious about being
burgled, 46% have been victims of street robbery, 33%
avoided going out in the dark for fear of sexual harassment.

Attitudes to victims
• A conservative view upon victims is currently seen. People
in a vulnerable situation such as a victim seen as elderly,
may sway and give judges the sympathy vote.
• Working-class youths are looked at to be taken less
seriously.
• Woman who have been persistently abused may be looked
at to have themselves to blame, as they have stayed in that
relationship.
• Police don’t like to intervene with domestic crime as it can
sometimes been seen as private. (The Englishmen's home
is his castle).
• Young victims out late at night as dressed attractively are
seen as “asking for it”. This view still applies to victims
today especially when they have been drinking.
• Less than 10% of rape cases end up in court.

Victim blaming
• “it is the height of impedance for any girl to hitch
hike at night” (judge Richard)
• “woman who say no do not always mean
no”(judge wild)
• Carrabine and colleagues (2009)- the term
secondary victimisation is used to describe the
negative attitudes someone such as a rape victim
might receive at the hands of the police or a
judge, after suffering the primary victimisation of
the offence itself.

Victim support and campaigns.
• Criminal injuries compensation act (1995)-
victims of violent crimes can apply for payments
from the government in relation to the degree of
their injuries, this doesn’t usually include loss of
earnings or expenses. The act can deny
compensation for anyone with a criminal record,
even if it has no relation to the claim.
• Childline, rape crisis centres, womans refuges and
campaigns for changes in the law to allow parents
access to information about convicted sex
offenders.

Board theories of explanations of
victimology
• Positivists: people become victims because of
where they live
• Radical: agrees people who live in poorer
areas are more likely to be victims, and poorer
people can afford to move to crime free areas.

Outline and explain patterns of victimisation in the UK.
One common pattern of victimisation in the UK, is how woman are seen more likely to be a victim than
men. To be specific the crime woman are seen largely to be a victim of is domestic crime, and men are seen to be
largely the victim of violent crimes. Feminists argue that female victims are underrepresented in official statistics,
due to under reporting of domestic crime. Its only recently that domestic abuse has been classed as a crime, and so
woman and men don’t feel the need to report it as they feel it is a waste of the polices time or unimportant. Susan
Brownmiller (1975) argues that rape is a part of a system of male intimidation keeping woman in fear, the idea of
patriarchy, men having the power over woman, and therefore woman appearing to be the weaker sex, and more
vulnerable, compared to men, therefore being look at as a victim. However Stanko (2000) suggests woman need to
restrict their behaviour by not appearing too provocative in behaviour and appearance, so he argues that woman
bring domestic/ sexual violence on themselves by provoking male attention in the wrong way. This idea is also
backed up by other attitudes such as young victims out late at night, dressed attractively are seen as ‘asking for it’.
Furthermore another noticeable pattern of victimisation is the idea of people living in poorer areas.
Poorer areas tend to have higher crime rates, looking at the Marxists perspective of the lower- working class being
more likely to commit crimes, it then works the same the other way around, and so lower- working class people are
also more likely to be victims of crime, living in the same areas as the offenders. It could also be seen that there is a
higher amount of victims amongst the working classes because they cannot afford to move away and avoid crime,
in areas with lower crime rates, and so have to stay the victim. Islington, the 4th most deprived area in London,
crime survey shows that 36% of residents saw crime as a major problem, 56% are anxious about being burgled, 46%
have been victims of street robbery, 33% avoid going out at night, through fear of sexual harassment. This shows
that in deprived/ poorer areas there is a high amount of victimisation and fear. .However this could be argued that
these areas are shown to have a higher numbers of victims due to the fact that white collar crimes are under-reported,
and because these white collar crimes are committed by the middle-class and up, the police and other
middle-class authority members are more lenient to these types of offenses. Positivists agree that people becomes
victims because of where they live, and radical victimologists agree that people who live in poorer areas are more
likely to be victims, because they cannot move away.
There are also other patterns that are evident, broadly across the UK such as the common age of victims
being 16-24 year olds, more generally victims of violence. But also the elderly, are more commonly victims against
abuse and things like fraud, but it could be argued that the young and the elderly are seen as more vulnerable and
so get the judges sympathy. There is also a pattern in which ethnic groups are targeted as victims, generally racial
crimes, which are targeted at mixed race groups. The macpherson report (1999) following the murder of Stephan
Lawrence found ethnic minorities over-policed and under-reported.
To conclude the perfect victim (in the UK would be perceived as a young female, of mixed race, from a
lower to working-class background.

Media treatment of victims
• Medias selective in focusing upon some victims more than others.
• Old people that are attacked for example are often front page news.
Missing white woman syndrome:
• Also known as missing pretty girl syndrome, is the term coined to
describe a form of media hype in which excessive news coverage is
devoted to a specific missing white girl/ woman.
• Reporting of these stories often last several days or weeks and
displaces reporting of other news worthy issues.
Black criminality:
• The media also plays up on the image of black offenders, muggers
and criminality generally.
• However it reports less the fact that evidence from official statistics
suggest that African-carribeans and south asians are twice as likely
to be victims.

Marxist theory- media and crime
• Argue that it is not surprising that moral
panics centre around groups viewed as
deviant or threatening to the rich and
powerful in society.
• Highlight the way the media portrays criminals
as working-class, ignoring white collar crime.
• Louis Althusser- would describe the media as
an ideological state apparatus.

Interpretivists theories- media and
crime
• Interpretivist theories such as interationists,
emphasize the role of the media in the social
construction of news.
• They view the media as supporting specific
arguments with selective evidence and data
from appropriate surveys.

Functionalist and pluralist theories-media
and crime
• Both argue the media is simply a window on
the world reflecting life as it is
• Therefore, the media simply reflects a true
picture or real picture of crime.
• However, critiques argue this is rather naïve
given the fact that the real figure of crime is
way above the official figure.

Feminist theory- media and crime
• Femininists argue that the media plays down
the extent of woman as victims of crime
• Feminists argue that the sexually explict
representation of woman in all forms of
pornography, renders all woman potentially
unsafe since they encourage predatory
attitudes amongst men.

Postmodernist theory –media and
crime
• See media as a crucial player in our preception
of crime
• They highlight how the media present crime
with a mixture of entertainment and
sensationalism.
• Expressed as a spectacle.

Explain how at least two perspectives
view media and crime.
• Interpretivists such as interactionalists argue that the
media’s role is to socially construct crime and news.
Interactionalists view the media as a deviance supporting
specific arguments with selective evidence and data from
appropriate surveys.
• However, on the other hand functionalists and pluralists
can be seen as naïve, as they arue the media simply reflects
a true and real picture of crime, even though the real
figures of crime are way above the official figure, and even
though the media does not broadcast all crimes that go on.
• Interactionalists and functionalists could link however
because if the media does just socially construct society,
perhaps reality is just reflected back into the news?

Media! Fears and fascinations of crime:
• The media shapes peoples perception/ fears and fascinations about crime.
• Peoples perceptions come from newspapers, news, TV, magazines, books and programs like
crime watch.
• Left realists: there's a real dear of crime by ordinary people which is to a large extent shaped
by the media.
• Infotainment- getting entertainment through information.
Crime is a postmodern spectacle:
• Kidd-Hewitt and Osborne (1995) see media reporting of crime increasingly driven by the
need for a spectacle.
• Spectacles are engaging because audiences become both repelled by the activities but
fascinated at the same time.
• Koostra and Mahoney (1999) argue that media coverage of crime is increasingly a mixture of
entertainment and sensationalism (Neil Postman calls ‘Infotainment’)
• Jerrery pearson (1998) in his book ‘hooligan’ he claims that middle-aged people of every
generation tend to look back nostalgically on the early years of their lives as golden ages of
morality.
– He refers to this nostalgic image of the past as reflecting.
Sensitization of issues:
• The media plays a crucial role in ‘sensitising’ the public into perceiving and reporting certain
activities as crimes. Sensitising- being more sensitive towards something.
• Example: media attention and ‘zero tolerance’ campaigns have challenged the idea that
domestic violence is not a family matter but a crime. Zero tolerance- no excuses, not
tolerated at all.

Media coverage:
• Tabloid newspapers negatively target undesirable groups such as gypsies and asylum seekers
. Such groups are viewed as ‘not us’, or ‘other groups’.
• The media tends to demonise rapists as evil psychopaths, where as in reality the majority of
victims are raped by men they know, trusted and often live with. Demonise- Make someone
appear evil.
Deviancy amplification:
• Was coined by Heslie Wilkins (1964) to describe how agencies like the police and media can
actually generate an increase in deviance.
• Minor crimes can be glamorised.
• Publicity has potential to increase deviant behaviour by glamourizing it or making it seem
common or acceptable.
Middleton studies:
• Conducted in USA in 1925, as perhaps the first example of deviancy amplification.
• Lynd and lynd (1929 + 1937) identified how community and religious leaders in small town
‘Middleton’ condemned radio for promoting immoral behaviour.
• A lot of television, films etc have been viewed as contributing to deviant and criminal
behaviour.
Happy slapping:
• Started in south London and spread globally through copy cat actions, spread via mobile
phones.

Stan Cohen- moral panics (media exaggeration.)
Cohen is credited with coming up with the term ‘moral panic’
in 1972. he studied folk devils and moral panics of the mods and
rockers in the 1960’s.
The work applied the concepts of labelling, societal reaction
and the Deviancy amplification spiral helped in widening the scope
of Criminology to include the sociology of crime and social control.
• False exaggeration
• Folk devil- exaggerated groups of deviants.
Mods and rockers:
• One wet Easter weekend a minor affray in Clacton became front
page news.
• The media developed these groups into ‘folk devils’ and
construction of a ‘moral panic’.
Symbolisation exaggeration  prediction
• ‘Symbolic shorthand's’ – subcultures hair, clothing and transport
etc.

Circular nature of moral panics
1. An activity gains media
attention.
2. Agencies of control respond.
3. Deviance becomes amplified.
4. Exaggeration symbolised
prediction.
5. Problem becomes redefined.
EXAMPLE: advertisement of size zero, lead to deviance of –
Anorexia.
1. Size zero models/ celebrities advertised in magazines,
newspapers and in television.
2. Nutritionists, dieticians, doctors, try to control the topics,
while keeping their clients sizable.
3. Woman that diet themselves, then develop the ambition to
be skinny, which can lead to becoming anorexic or bulimic.
4. The media then exaggerates this problem in the news as a
bad thing, but alternately can cause the problem to spread.

Moral panics
• Mods and rockers- 1960’s Cohen
• Acid raves, ecstasy, 1990s Thornton
• Male underachievement 1990’s, Critcher
Media as ‘moral crusaders’
– The media, having played a part in constructing a moral panic,
may then embark upon a ‘moral crusade’ against the identified
‘folk devils’.
– The desired out come is to swell public opinion and for the
authorities to embark upon a moral clampdown on deviants.
Moral panics as ideological control
– Miller and Reilly (1994) see some moral panics used to soften up
public opinion and thus act as a form of ‘ideological social control’
– EMAMPLE: the media’s coverage of Islamic terrorism is seen by
some to promote, ‘islamophbia’ .
– Anti-terrorism legislation has received broad public support
despite seriously reducing ordinary peoples civil liberties.

Interactionism- Labelling theory
(functionalist)
Internationalist perspective there is no deviance, only acts
which are labelled as deviant.
BECKER! (1963)- “ social groups create deviance by making rules
whose violation constitutes deviance and by applying those
rules to particular and labelling them as deviant.”
• Someone who has been given a deviant label through
appearance, behaviour, age, ethnicity or gender, then lives up
to this label which becomes the master status of the
individual, so they become a deviant.
• Definition: “an approach to the study of deviance which
suggests that people become ‘deviant’ because certain labels
are attached to their behaviour by political authorities and
others” (Giddens, 2006)
– Meaning that people are seen as deviant by others so live up to be
deviant.

Who labels whom?
• Glidden's (2006)- “people who represent the forces of
law and order, or are able to impose definitions of
convectional morality on others, do most of the
labelling”
• “the wealthy label the poor, men label woman etc.”
• Cicourel’s (1976) studied the police & juvenile officers
in California and found police were more likely to arrest
people who fitted the picture of having – poor school
performance; low-income backgrounds; ethnic minority
membership. Then in contrast found middle-class
delinquents who were arrested tended to be
counselled, cautioned and released by police officers.

Edwin Lemert (1972
• moved interactionism forward by arguing there’s a
difference between primary and secondary deviance.
• Primary deviance- acts which haven't be publically
defined as deviant.
• Secondary deviance- has been defined by the public as
deviant.
Primary
Subjective
attribution
process
personal
situational
Exclusive reaction
and labelling
Inclusive reaction
Characteristics of
the act
Characteristics of
the actor
Characteristics of
the audience
Characteristics of
the situation

Jock young- effects of being labelled
• Argues that by being labelled as deviant it
creates a self-fulfilling prophecy, whereby a
labelled individual acts out the label given to
them.
• YOUNGS EXAMPLE: In the ‘60’s hippies used
dope as part of their lifestyle, then they were
labelled and it then became the symbol of
their difference

William Chambliss (1973)
• He studied 2 groups of delinquents in an
American school; the roughnecks and the saints.
• Both groups evolved in petty crimes; drinking
truancy, vandalism, theft etc.
• The roughnecks however were constantly in
trouble, and the saints had rarely any trouble.
• Chambliss views this as the differences between
classes, the saints being middle-class and
roughnecks working-class.

Criticisms of labelling!
• Assumes there is no free will, and that
everyone accepts the label given to them.
• Doesn’t account for reasons for committing
the deviant behaviour.
• No definite proof to suggest labelling leads to
deviancy amplification
• Marxist argue that labelling theory does not
do enough to ask who creates labels.

functionalism
Durkheim (1895)- concept of Anomie
• Anomie- to explain why some people become
dysfunctional and turn to crime. Means being
insufficiently integrated into society's norms
and values.
– Causes society to become less integrated and
more individualistic.
– Causes individuals to look out for themselves
rather than others.

Crime and social change
• In times of change individuals may become unsure of
prevailing norms and rules.
• They are consequently more at risk of breaking them
• There is a weaker collective conscience of shared values to
guide actions.
• Durkheim- saw anomie expressed not just through crime, but
also by suicide, marital breakdown, and industrial disputes.
– “he argues crime is inevitable, normal and a necessary aspect of
social life”
– “crime is an integral part of all healthy societies.”
– Ÿesterdays deviance must become todays nromality
• ‘Society of saints’- everyone's harmonious however deviance
is inevitable and will always be present.
CRITISISM- Durkheims theories are based on theory not social
research.

MERTON (1968)
• Functionalist argue there are five responses to the value
consensus.
– Love it
– Abuse it
– Neglect it
– Reject it
– Radically change it
STRAIN THEORY!
• Regarded anomie as used by Durkheim as too vague.
• He recognised importance of shared goals and values of society (American
dream)
• Recognised not everyone has some opportunities to share these goals and
values.
• Altered anomie to mean society where there is dysfunction between goals
and the means of achieving them.
• Believed American society feels its an importance to have material goals.

Ways of responding to goals:
Conformity- accepting goals, and working for them.
Innovation- accepting goals, and new ones.
Ritualism- rejecting goals, but going along with it.
Retreatism- rejecting goals and means.
Rebellion- fighting against
Means Goals
conformists + +
innovators - +
ritualists + -
retreatists - -
rebels +/- +/-

Merton-
• Being blocked from success leads to deviance,
as ‘innovators'they adopt iligimate means to
achieve the goals they cannot achieve
legitimately.
Criticisms:
• Its theoretical
• Neglects bigger questions
• Assumes there's one value consensus
• Underestimates middle class crime
• He could explain where rules came from

• Influenced by anomie Travis Hirschi
• He asks “why don’t people commit more crimes than they do?”
• We need to understand what forces maintain conformity for most people in
society.
• Focus on conformity not deviance
4 bonds of attachment:
• Attachment- the extent to which we care about other peoples opinions and
desires.
• Commitment- the personal investment we put into our lives, in other words
what we have to lose if we turn to crime and get caught.
• Involvement- how integrated are we so that we neither have the time nor
inclination to behave in a deviant/ criminal way.
• Belief- how committed are individuals to upholding society's rules and laws.
– Merton sees crime as a form of ‘safety valve which can have a positive function
for society.
– Deviance is necessary to kick-start social change.
Criticisms:
• Fails to challenge value consensus.
• How can crime be functional when it causes so much musury.
• Neglects nature of power.

• Crime is inevitable-
• Normal and functional-
• Social control mechanisms-
• Collective sentiments-
• society of saints- Durkheim
• Value consensus- Merton
• Anomie- Durkhiem, Merton, Hirschi
• Cultural goals-
• Institutionalised means-
• Conformity- Merton
• Innovation- Merton
• Ritualism- Merton
• Retreatism- Merton
• Rebellion- Merton

Sub-cultural theory
• 2,126 15-17 year olds and 9,497 18-20 year olds were held in
custody in 2009 in England and wales.
Reasons why young people are more likely to be involved in
criminal activity:
– Drug/ alcohol abuse
– Mental illness
– Peer pressure
– Self gratification, no responsibilities
– Hyperactivity
– Learning problems
– Money problems
– Deprivation
– Troubled home life
– Lack of discipline
– Bullying
– Poor attainment.

MORI (1998)- survey of 11-16 year olds reported only seven out of ten school
children can say they have not offended
• Only one in six of those that offended were detected.
• Young people under 18 commit 7000000 offences a year.
University of Glamorgan- investigated violent offences, in particular street
culture.
• They used semi-structured interviews on 120 offenders (89:male 31:female)
violent offenders, in England and wales.
• 26 white, 10%black, 12% mixed race, 1% Asian.
• 92% were involved in illegal drug use
• 25% had been convicted 30 + offences
• 23 pervious convictions
• 45 mean previous arrests
• 11% offended in groups
• 1/3 said they were involved in a gang.
• ¼ have carried a firearm
• 35% had carried a weapon.
main motives for street robbery:
• Status within a sub-culture
• Money- drugs
• Excitement/ adrenaline
• Retaliation

Interest?
• Media more interested in violent crimes
• Infotainment/ fascination/ entertainment
Norms and values?
• The value of status within society or a social group
• The value of money
• Need for power
• Out of revenge
reoffend?
• A way of retaliation
• Favour prison/ have no sense of an outside world anymore.
• ‘universities of crime’- criminals join forces once out on probation.
• If they have light sentence, they may have the incentive to reoffend.
• Mental illness
Strengths and weaknesses?
• University of Glamorgan, have focuses on one type of crime (street culture/ crime).
So to make it more valid they should interview a wider variety of crimes, to also
make it more generalisable.
• There are reliability concerns because if repeated there would be a different group
of offenders, and they may hav different norms an values/ incentives.

Sub-cultural theory-Walter B Miller
• (1962)
• Deviant behaviour is not due to the occurrence of lower class groups inability to achieve, its
due to the existence of a destructive lower class sub-culture.
• “its not a reaction to poverty; it’s a way of life”
• He observes that lower class groups have for century's possessed their own culture and
traditions which are totally different from those of the higher classes. He suggests that this
lower class culture has been passed on not by one generation but for much longer.
Focal concerns:
 trouble- young working-class males accept violence and will not run away, they accept that it will occur in
their everyday lives.
 Toughness- concern for masculinity/ maintaining a ‘reputation’
 Excitement- search for ‘thrills’/ emotional stimulus (night out/ gambling)
 Smartness-’capacity to outfox, outwit, dupe, take others’ (hustler conman, pimp)
 Fatalism- little can be done about their lives, what will be will be attitude (no power)
 Autonomy- lower-class believe in freedom and independence= conflict with authority figures.
Two factors tend to emphasize and exaggerate the focal concerns of lower class sub-culture:
• Close conformity to group norms within a peer groups.
• Desire for status within the peer group.
Critique:
• Theoretical
• Middle-class adopt also
• Not all lower working class adopt focal concerns
• Ignores woman.

Subcultural theory-Albert Cohen (1955)
• Structural theory- argues that criminal behaviour is the result of an individuals place in the
social class structure.
• Argues delinquency is a collective rather than an individual response to status frustration
and their position in the class structure.
• Cohen says that functionalist Merton doesn’t discuss non-utilitarian crime such as joy riding
and vandalism so he sets our to explain this type of crime where there is no functional gain.
• Cohen said working-class boys reject mainstream culture because they are culturally
deprived, ensuring educational failure, derived access to these cultural goals.
• Working class boys experience status frustration as they are stuck at the bottom of the
stratification system, with al avenues blocked.
• They resolve status frustration by rejecting the success goals of mainstream culture and
replacing them with an alternative set that they can achieve within a delinquent sub-culture
in which they can achieve status and prestige.
• “the delinquent sub-culture takes its norms from the larger culture but turns them upside
down”
• SUMMARY: working class boys reject mainstream culture because they are culturally
deprived, causing status frustration through blocked opportunities. So they replace
mainstream goals and set alternative ones within a delinquent group to achieve some sort of
status.
Critique:
• Feminist: ignores woman
• Ignores older people
• Marxist: doesn’t consider that middle class may be apart of this
• Outdated
• Internationalist: individual consideration is needed

Subcultural theory- Cloward and Ohlin (1960)
• Focus on how peoples opportunities to be deviant are also different: not everyone gets the
same chances to be crooks; some have better opportunities to enter into a criminal career,
particularly if they have access to a criminal sub-culture.
• By examining access to and opportunity fro entry into a illegitimate opportunity structures
they provide explanations for different forms of deviance.
• Argue that amongst working class there is limited or no access to legitimate opportunities
like education so turn to illegitimate opportunities more easily.
• They say depending on the availability of illegitimate opportunities, young people can enter
into one of the three deviant groups:
– Criminal subcultures: established and organised criminal networks.
– Conflict subcultures: in areas of limited access to legitimate or the illegitimate opportunity structures=
violent gang response.
– Retreatists subcultures: failed to succeed in both legitimate and illegitimate opportunity structures (illegal
drug abuse)
Critique:
• Theoretical
• It’s a combination of Mertons and Cohens ideas
• Its simplistic
• Based on gangs in Chicago in 1920-30’s
• Focused on males
Illegitimate- illegal, not accepted
Legitimate- legal, accepted
Non-utilitarian – no financial gain
Status frustration- blocked opportunity frustration

Charles Murray (1989)
• Argues crime is a cultural phenomenon among particular groups that share
deviant norms and values.
• Focuses on the underclass, bottom of socio-economic structure, cannot
participate in mainstream cultural activities such as education/
employment, reliant upon welfare.
• Does not accept that underclass people have the same morals and values as
the rest of mainstream society.
• Underclass are responsible for a high proportion of crime, there criminality
is a rejection of mainstream.
• Welfare state are over-generous:
– Woman can be single mothers
– Men don’t have to be breadwinners
• He argues that the underclass breads more delinquents
Critique:
• Theoretical
• Not everyone on benefits are persistently welfare dependant
• Some find employment
• White collar crime is ignored
• Cannot be used as a general explanation of crime

David Matza
• American sociologist
• Attacks the assumptions on which sub-cultural and structural theories are based, and provided his own
explanation.
• Claimed delinquents are similar to everyone else in their values, and voice similar feelings of outrage about
crime in general as the majority of society.
• Elements of the action approach, focuses on the way behaviour is adaptable and flexible ad involves
dimensions of choice and free will.
• Suggests delinquents are committed to the same values and norms as other members of society.
• Society has a strong hold on them and prevents them from being delinquent most of the time.
• Notes that delinquents often express regret and remorse at what they have done.
• They drift into deviant activities into other words, there is a lot of spontaneity and impulsiveness in deviant
actions.
Two levels of values:
• Convectional values: valuing roles such as fatherhood and occupation
• Subterranean values: values of sexuality, greed and aggressiveness (generally controlled) .
Neutralisation:
• If delinquents were as committed to convectional values as everyone else. ‘why do they still commit at all’
• Suggests delinquents justify their own crimes as exceptions to the rule.
Techniques of neutralisation:
• Remove responsibility
• Denial of injury
• Denial the act was wrong
• Blame the police (corrupt)
• Argue they broke the law to be helpful

Matching analysis
1. Durkheim (1895) argues his concept of ‘Anomie’ , which means there is a
dysfunction in society because people have been insufficiently integrated into
societies norms and values. He suggests anomie causes society to become more
individualistic, looking out for themselves instead of others. In times of social
change he argues that these insufficiently integrated people are more at risk of
breaking the rules as there is a weaker collective conscience of shard values to
guide their actions. For example he may argue that a young working-class boy
was insufficiently integrated into society and his lack of shared goals with the
middle-classes causes him to become a delinquent. However sub-cultural theory
rests on this functionalist assumption that there is a single set of goals that all
members of society share, and if this shared consensus isn't the case, they will be
more likely to be delinquent. It could be argued that there is a variety of
variations of consensus.
2. Albert Cohen (1955) argues delinquency is a collective response to status
frustration, status frustration is a result of having a lower position in the social
class structure. Cohen aims his study on young, working-class boys, and suggests
to resolve their status frustration they reject mainstream culture (based around
middle-class norms and values) replacing it with a new culture, with a new set of
goals, to achieve, so they get a sense of power/ status. These new cultures are
created within deviant sub-cultures, he argues that deviant sub-cultures are
formed then as a response to overcome their problems as working-class
teenagers. However the boys may have never aspired to middleclass goals in
the first place, so if that is the case they boys never rejected middle-class culture
because they were frustrated, but out of choice not to contribute.

Marxism
• Capitalism causes crime- its criminigenic.
• The law benefits the rich and powerful.
• Middle and upper-class crime is ignored.
• The inequality caused by capitalism causes working-class
crime.
Marxist theories of crime and deviance became popular in the
1970’s.
• Marxists argue that crime is generated by the structure of
capitalist society- crime is inevitable in societies where
some are richer than others.
• Laws reflect the interests of the dominant capitalist class-laws
made by and for the elite: those with loads of money
and power. Eg footballers, politicians.

Marxism- Chambliss(1976)
• Functional conflict theories of crime.
• Lower-class offenders tend to be caught and processed as
criminals more than middle class. (crime is spread evenly
throughout the social class system.)
• Non decision making is what happens in the creation of
laws: many human needs are ignored in favour of the ruling
class.
• E.g. footballers earn obscene amounts while some people
in the same country are in poverty.
• Chambliss argues laws are to protect private property, to
help the ruling class. They also have the power to prevent
laws that might affect their property and wealth from been
issued .

Marxist- Althusser
• Althusser does not believe people have any free will.
• Argues that laws are enforced and legitimized through both
repressive state apparatus and ideological state apparatus.
• RSA- physical control through structures such as the police
and judicial system. These control the working-class
through treats/ punishments of custodial sentences, fines,
ASBOs, curfews and other physical means.
• ISA- these structures control the way the working-class
think and therefore behave in order to prevent and/ Or
criminal behaviour e.g. the education system, the family,
religion and the media.
• Ideological state apparatus: capitalism, country/ society,
institutions.

Marxism and crime (cover work)
• A1.Why does Marxism see crime as a likely feature of the capitalist system?
• Capitalism is based on greed, selfishness and exploitation, so its not surprising crime is such an epidemic.
• A2.What evidence is provided by traditional Marxist that there is one rule for the rich and another for the poor?
• William Chambliss (1976) studied the social elites, in Seattle. He found evidence of a widespread corruption whereby illegal activities of the rich were ignored.
• A3.What criticism can be addressed at the traditional Marxist approach to crime?
• “laws reflect the interests of the rich and powerful” (obscuring the complexities of law-making. Laws reflect the interests of people and consensus values.
• Criticised for playing down the harm done to victims, usually proletariat.
• B1. In what ways can businesses be seen to be treated leniently when they break the law?
• Crimes are hard to detect 'invisible’.
• Seen as ‘the normal business practice’
• B2. Is there evidence that businesses put profit before workers and the publics safety?
• Snider(1993) governments are of ten reluctant to pass law that threaten profitability of large companies.
• E.g car ferry Herald of free enterprise , sank, drowning 193 people, the bow door was not closed, employees claimed they were over stretched by employers to achieve fast turn arounds.
• B3. How is globalisation shifting corporate crime away from the developed world?
• Michalowski and Kramer (1987) argue firms are attracted to countries with weak enforcements of health and safety and pollution controls. (law invasion)
• Exploit under developed countries.
• Box(1983) firms bypass laws that would apply I developed countries.
• B4. What criticisms can be directed at Marxist ideas about corporate crime?
• Business owners/ middle-class/ bourgeoisie rule the working-class proletariat and poor people in developing countries.
• Don’t get caught out, bend the rules.
• C1. How is Taylor Walton and young’s theory different to traditional Marxism?
• Integrates Marxism with interactionism/labelling theory
• Wanted to recognize how acts of 'deviance' came to be labelled as 'criminal' in the first place. Consider interactionist ideas as they are also necessary to understand how the police, media
and wider criminal justice system interact in the social construction of crime and criminals.
• They interpreted working class crime as a meaningful and deliberate act with criminals seen as redistributing wealth from the rich to the poor.
• They listed import aspects of crime.
• C2. What are the other sociological theories of crime could be linked to this theory?
• Expands on Lemert and Becker’s ideas of labelling, to discuss what causes someone to be labelled in the first place, and what is behind the labels, and the process of creating a label.
• C3. What criticism can be directed at the ideas of the new criminology?
• The ‘fully social theory of deviance’ did not examine the way society as a whole is organized, and the way in which individuals decide to carry out criminal acts.
• lack of any discussion of patriarchy and power.
• D1. How did Marxists sub-cultural theory explain how capitalism exerted social control on the population?
• As Marxists they argued that the adult population was controlled by both ideology and economic pressures. So working class youths are more likely to involved in crime, because they were
furthest removed from such ideological messages and financial pressures, so they are in a strong position to resist.
• D2 .What are the similarities and differences between Marxist, sub-cultural theory and functionalist sub-cultural theory (Albert Cohen, Cloward and Ohlin and
Miller)?
• Similarities, mainly based on collective groups (sub-cultures) to explain crime.
• Differences, Marxist theories explain how class effects crime, functionalists explain how crime is necessary, and functional, sub-cultural theory suggests crime is down to the forming of
deviant groups.
• D3.what criticisms can be made about Marxist sub cultural theory?
• Biased
• Use only the evidence that fitted their assumptions of class-based resistance.
• Sarah Thornton (1995) notes, most youth subcultures are generated by the media anyway.

Angela Davis- ‘The Black Panthers’
• Black rites 1970’s
• Leader Anglea Davis “ the real criminals in this
society are not all the people who populate the
prisons across the state, but those people who
have stolen the wealth of the world from people”.
Criticisms:
– Theoretical
– Lacks empirical rigor
– Health and safety rites are mainly thoer for manual
workers.

Corporate Crime
• E.g. The Bhopal, India, Chemical Disaster.
– Underground storage pipe leaked toxic gasses.
– 20,000 people received medical treatment
– 3 senior members of staff arrested, but not imprisoned.
– 3,000 people died
– 570,000 victims
Lauren Snider- corporate crime is extremely harmful to individuals an communities,
committed due to pressure on executives to cut costs and therefore corners, in order to
maximise profits.
Keywords
• Criminogenic- it causes crime (capitalism)
• Inequalities- being at a disadvantage, black, male, young, working-class.
• Ideological state apparatus- control through coercion, or manipulation (institutions such
as media, family controlled.)
• Selective laws- how middle-class make laws to benefit themselves.
• Resistance- doing something or not doing something because they do not agree, or
rebel against it.
• Corporate and white collar crime- business and company owner crime and the upper
classes.

Marxism and crime
Marxists believe capitalism to be criminogenic. Capitalism is
said to favour the middle-classes (bourgeoisie) due to
inequalities within the class structure. Althussers invention
of the Ideological state apparatus states that institutions
such as the media, and education system are all ways of
cohesion, setting selective laws that favour the middle,
classes, benefiting them and therefore brainwashing the
working-classes into conforming. However working-classes
don’t always conform, and instead resist what they are
made to believe is the norm. Marxists ideas of crime are
based around how middle-classes crime is ignored and
corporate and white collar crime still happens to benefit
companies to increase their profit, yet they get away with
it.

Neo Marxism- Taylor, Walton and Young's
(1973) Taylor et al, aim to provide a ‘ fully social theory of deviance’- to explain every
aspect of deviance from the activity of the state to crime on the streets.
'fully social theory of deviance’
important aspects of crime:
1. 'The wider origins of the deviant act': the class society of capitalism.
2. 'Immediate origins of the deviant act': the social context in which a crime is
committed. (circumstance decision)
3. 'The actual act': what are the actual subjective meanings of the act to the
individual.( understand the meaning of the deviant act)
4. 'The immediate origins of social reaction': how do others (family, peers,
police, etc.) respond?. (others reaction/ response)
5. 'Wider origins of deviant reaction': the reaction in terms of who holds power
and sets the rules. (severity of the act)
6. 'The outcomes of societal reaction on the deviant's further action': the
labelling process. (deviant labels)
7. 'The nature of the deviant process as a whole': the relationship of the above
six aspects need to be considered as a 'fully social theory of deviance'.
(complete theory)

Taylor et al…
• Agree with Marxism, the idea that to work out why
people are criminal, we have to understand how
the economy of the society is organised.
• In the UK, we have a capitalist system where some
people have a lot of wealth and power and most
have a lot less.
• Criminals are expressing their frustration at
capitalist society by breaking laws.

Bourdieu
• Cultural capital- knowledge and interests
• Social capital- who you know, opportunities
• Economic capital- your wealth

Hall et al
• Argued that the state manufactures a crime problem
• Justifies strengthening it control over the population
• Certain groups such as young black men, in particular are heavily
criminalised so they can be heavily controlled.
Radical criminology (neo-Marxism):
• See the actions of the state and the agents of social control as solely serving
the interests of the capitalist class.
• Downplaying the significance of crime and largely ignoring the victims of
crime.
• Croall: defined white collar crime as crime committed in the course of
legitimate employment; an abuse of an occupational role
Keywords:
White collar crime- committed within legitimate employment, abuse of an
occupational role.
Corporate crime- when companies commit crimes.
• 500 a year die in British workplaces.
• 2/3 are caused by employer negligence (health and safety)
• Boundaries between organised and respectable large corporations crime is
increasingly blurred.

Evaluate Marxist theories of crime
and deviance. (45)
see notes…

Realism (right realism)
Right realists: Margaret Thatcher and Charles Murray
 Right realism originated in the 1970’s particularly by
James Q Wilson (1975)and Ernst van den Hagg (1975).
 It developed as a critique of sociological theory which
had failed to solve the problem of crime.
 The basis of right realism is a negative view of human
nature (naturally selfish and greedy)
 This aspect of human nature therefore needs to be
subject to social controls and socialised into
appropriate behaviour.
 Summary: selfishness and greed needs to be socialised
into appropriate behaviour.

Rational choice theory (solution)
• Clarke and Coleman (1980): argue criminals will
engage in crime if the benefits outweigh the costs
Solution:
• Increase the costs
• Increase the likelihood of being caught
• Tougher punishment
• Make the costs outweigh the benefits
• Stricter education
• Promote correct integration
• Increase responsible parenting.

Crime, benefit vs cost
Crime benefit Cost
Stealing Gain of items
Gain functionally
Caught
Fine
Ban
embracement
Twoc'ing Adrenaline
Excitement
Status
Power
Fine
prison
Identity theft Fun
Gain
Freedom
revenge
Caught
Prison
ban
Computer hacking Ain of information
Blackmail
££
Prison
Fine
Warning
Rape Enjoyment
Pleasure
Power
Sexual gratification
Prison
Arrest
Sexual offenders register
Victim harm
Neglect of a child Authority
Power
Freedom
Prison death
ABH Coercion
power
Thrill
revenge
Prison arrest fine
Criminal record

Anti-social criminology
• Right realists particular oppose any connection sociologists have made
between crime and poverty.
• They point out that with increased affluence, crime rates have soared.
• Extending the welfare state, lack of discipline in education and decline of
the traditional family are seen as key factors affecting crime increase.
Selfish human nature:
• Rising crime levels reflect ineffective and inadequate social control.
• Permissive attitudes allow self-indulgent and anti-social behaviour.
• Feckless parenting, absent fathers, lack of discipline in schools, liberal
policy's of the state have all served to ferment crime.
• result= spiralling volumes of incivilities e.g. mugging, graffiti.
Inappropriate socialisation:
• Right realists blame crime on inadequate or inappropriate socialisation by
key socialisation agencies in society.
• Non-traditional family (single) viewed as a major factor.
• Lack of discipline in schools, mass media, glamorises crime and deviance
and decline in influence of religious values are other important contributory
factors.

Charles Murray (1990)
• Argues that the under-class are particularly
insufficiently integrated into societies norms and
values.
Underclass prove to:
– Criminal tendencies
– Violence
– Illegitimacy and promiscuity
– Educational failure
– Welfare dependant
Critique: Marxists argue MC make the laws, deciding who
is criminal, Murray argues they are insufficiently
integrated.

James Q Wilson ‘ broken window
thesis’
• Argues that unless ‘incivilities’ (litter, graffiti) are
kept minimal, then wider anti-social behaviour
and more serious crime will follow.
• He advocates that the police adopt a policy of
‘zero tolerance’ for even minor crimes (NY tried)
• Emile Durkheim- Local informal control are
crucial for law and order and ‘AH bottoms’
concept of the ‘tipping’ problems of housing
estates.

James Q Wilson
• Argues there are 3 key factors affecting long-term
crime:
• Number of males
• Cost/ benefits
• Inadequate socialisation
• To deal with this he advocates target
hardening of deviant groups and areas
through pro-active policing.

Ernt van den Haag
• Van den Haag- adopts a very poor view of
humanity as willing to cheat to get on and
therefore some groups need to be controlled for
their own good and that of society.
• For some people and society's own good we need
to control them
• Punishment is functional
• Argues its reasonable for law+ order agencies to
target the poor!
• Advocates a tough penal system of punishment
corporal and capital

Right realism Critique
• Influential on government policy in both the USA
and UK.
• Zero tolerance was successful in NY
• Some argue its due to a lack of investment in
deprived areas not incivilities that cause crime to
rise.
• Easy to pick up on single parent families
• Serious crimes may get ignored if minor crimes
are of concentration
• Zero tolerance = migration of crime

Left realism
• Lea &young (1984) developed left realism, with Mathews and Kinsey, party as a
response to right realism.
• Partly in response to neo-marxist radical criminology, which young was part of an
he wanted to distance himself from subsequently calling it ‘left idealism.
• Left realism see’s crime as a real problem for ordinary people and explains it
through analysis social and economic relationships, and how some groups become
marginalised.
Crime is a real phenomenon:
• Left realism argues rising crime rates cannot solely be an explanation because of
the unreliability of official crime statistics.
• So, unusually for sociologist, they are less critical of crime statistics than most, and
argue they do not reflect typical criminals, young male black and working class.
• They focus on victims, recognise crime is concentrated in the inner-city and sink
housing estates.
Ethnicity and crime:
• Lea and young attack black criminality head on: accepting there has been a real
increase in crimes committed by young blacks.
• They accept there exits institutional racism, and a racist ‘canteen culture’ amongst
the police.
• But black criminality also comes from racial discrimination, marital depression, low
wages and unemployment.
• They see black youth having particularly high aspirations, but often not able to
legitimately achieve these aspirations.

Left realism continued…
Left realism sees the origins of crime as three fold:
1. Relative deprivation: lea and young argue that frustrated from this
disparity between expectations and the reality of lifestyle lead to feelings
of relative deprivation. They argue the reality for many young black males
is a choice of unemployment, training schemes or ‘white mans shit
work’(Stuart Hall). They feel unfairly denied the ‘glittering prizes 'offered
to others. This can develop into strategies.
2. Marginalisation: lea and young argue marginalisation means the process
by which certain groups find themselves on the edge of society. White and
black working-class youth often feel alienated by schools, unemployment,
low wages and the police etc. young black males face marginalisation
through prejudice and harassment e.g. military policing, stop and search.
‘say it may be the stick that breaks the camels back’- economic
marginalisation is transferred into crime.
3. Sub-culture: young and lea argue the subculture of young blacks is
distinctively different from their parents who largely accept their
marginalised position in society. Black youth subcultures have material
expectations and aspirations: money and status symbols like flash cars etc.
Because black youth’s are closely enmeshed in values of consumption,
style and wealth this is precisely why they engage in crime, because of
blocked opportunities.

Left realists square…
offender state
crime
victim Informal controls
Left realism takes us beyond the offender and shows concern for victim patterns and formal and
informal factors. They argue crime can only be understood in terms of the interrelationships
between these four elements.
Jock Young- social change and crime (1997). Young argues a generic theory to explain the recent
growth in crime. He argues that late modernity is making crime worse in a number of ways:
• Greater uncertainty and instability in most aspects of life.
• Peoples desire for immediate and personal pleasure.
• less consensus about moral value.
• A breakdown of informal social controls.
Relative deprivation: deprivation in relation to your area.
Marginalisation: being on the edge of society, between different social groups.

Left realism: policing problem
• Kinsey, lea and young (1984)- identified a number of
problems with contemporary policing. The police too often
resort to ‘military policing’ as a method of solving crime
through ‘stop and search’ policies. Alienated the
community from them, recently the Muslim community.
They argue that to improve this relationship the public
should have more say in shaping police policy.
• left realists argue police shouldn’t stop and search. Should
focus on racial attacks, corporate crime and domestic
abuse. UK has started this sort of thing e.g. neighbourhood
policing.
Labour have been influenced by left realists, Tony Blair's
slogan ‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’.

Left realist solutions
Feminist:
– Changes in policy
– Safer streets
– Encourage woman to speak out
– Rape and domestic abuse crisis centres
– Better police training
– Legislation to protect moan at work.
Left realism critique:
• Only focuses on managing capitalism
• It focuses on victims as well as the offenders, this is good.
Adding another dimension to our understanding of crime.
• However relative deprivation or marginalisation cannot
explain the motive behind offenders actions.
• Equally not all people in relative deprivation turn to crime it
assumes when societies values breakdown, crime will become
more liekly.

Left and right realism summary
Left Realism (young) Right Realism (Murray)
Blames increase crime levels on the decrease
of modern capitalism.
Causes:
1. Relative deprivation –lack of equality,
hate crime, frustration, racism,
materialism.
2. Sub-culture- collective solution to
deprivation, to close deprivation gap.
3. Marginalisation- youth are marginalised,
have no clear goals, frustration to
blocked opportunities.
Solution:
• Policing
• Tackling structure
Its not possible to prevent crime. Crimes a
real problem that destroys communities.
Causes:
1. Biological differences- differences, low
impulse, aggression. Murray says its
cause of low intelligence.
2. Socialisation and the underclass- blames
crime on the over generous welfare
state, and incorrect integration, lone
mothers, unemployment, instability.
3. Control ands rational choice- free will,
benefits of the crime outweighs the
penalties.
Solution:
• Zero tolerance
• Harsher punishments
• Promote correct integration

Postmodernism
• Kidd-Hewitt and Osborne (1995)- see the media reporting of crime increasingly driven by the need
for a ‘spectacle’.
– Engaging and fascinating, making you want to watch.
• Kooistra and Mahoney (199)- argue media coverage of crime is increasingly a mixture of
entertainment and sensationalism. (Neil Postman- ‘infotainment’
Theory of crime:
• Media is crucial in our perception of crime.
• Postmodernists highlight how the media presents crime with a mixture of entertainment and
sensationalism (exaggerate).
• Crime is expressed as a spectacle.
• Lyng(1990)-Edgework. Found young men seek pleasure (risky). They are thrill seeking, on the edge
of security and danger. Through such edge work are accomplishing masculinity… proving they have
control over their lives.
The nightmare economy:
• Hobbs (2000)- less disposable income
• Last 15 years-- growth in leisure economy- clubs/ pubs.
• Huge numbers of young people out in public ‘in a narrow time band- in search for pleasure
• Taylor (1999)- development of nocturnal economy is linked to globalisation. (as traditional economy
declined and leisure economy grew in derelict urban settings.)

Ethnicity and crime
Statistics:
• 7.1% of the pop belong to an ethnic minority group, most living in urban areas.
• Ethnic minorities grow faster than the rest of society because they are generally younger.
• Largest group: Indians, Pakistani then Black Caribbean's.
• Some considering themselves of ethnic minority are not as they were born in Britain.
• Hybrid culture: mixture of their home culture and British culture.
Acts:
Race Relations act (1965)-
banned discrimination in
public places. It made it
illegal to incite racial hatred.
The race relations board
respond to complaints. The
laws are ineffective, as it is
not illegal to be racist within
our own home, and victims
have to prove racism
occurred.
The Race relations act
(1968)- extended to act
to include: employment,
housing and provision of
services. Very little
discrimination was ever
proved and few cases
were won. Most were
related to advertising.
Police were exempt from
the act. The act was seen
as an expensive waste of
time.
The race relations act
(1976)- introduced
indirect discrimination, so
employers could not
cover up racist policies. It
set up the commission for
racial equality. Few
prosecutions, still difficult
to prove. Legislation is
generally not helpful,
only in changing
attitudes.

• Immigration control: some claim immigration controls are unfair,
and only discriminated against non-white people. The Asylum and
Immigration Appeals Act was designed to limit immigration and
reduce Asylum seekers, however asylum seekers lost their homes
and their were a number of incidents embracing the government.
• The Cantle Report: race riots occurred in British cities in 2001, the
cantle report was produced in December that year, it argues for
increased integration. David Blankett suggest immigrants should
learn English and should take a loyalty oath to the UK.
• John Beynon (1986)- argues there are eight possible causes of
inner city ethnic rioting: Unemployment, Deprivation, Racial
Disadvantage, Racial Discrimination, political exclusion,
powerlessness, distrust of police hostility to police. It is these
which cause race rioting, single events often trigger riots.
• Unemployment: Black Caribbean's are more likely to be
unemployed. Groups least likely to suffer from unemployment are
Indian men(middle-class education).
• Criminality: black males are more likely to go to prison than all
males. Only 0.3 judges come from ethnic minority groups and 0.1%
of senior barristers are black.

Key words
• Demography – blacks are younger in age distribution
than the general population and rates of crime are also
much higher than among young people.
• Racism – the police are racist. This is supported by the
Scarman Report and the McPherson Report into the
Stephen Lawrence case.
• Resistance to imperialism – criminality is a form of
resistance and a political stance. This is a Marxist view
and the evidence to support it is poor.
• Marginalisation – Black people are marginal to
mainstream society and cannot achieve their
aspirations to wealth via the normal channels because
of the racism of society. They turn, therefore, to crime.

Paul Gilroy
• Forming a separate cultural identity is a
significant form of resistance towards capitalism
and to racism in imperial societies.
• This was done by African Caribbean's through
dance, music, art and sport.
• In postmodern society many people are adapting
and adopting black cultural styles as a form of
fashion,
• Offers people a variable identity but
differentiates black people from ownership of
their own culture.

Heidi Saffia Mirza
• Black woman experience inequalities of
gender and race.
• Females work hard in school and have values
of achievement.
• Families are matriarchal and girls accept that
they will be primary carers for their children.
• Black girls are high achievers, books do not
acknowledge different patterns in male and
female achievement.

Ethnicity and
crime
7.1% of the pop
belong to an ethnic
minority group, most
living in urban areas.
Ethnic minorities
grow faster than
the rest of society
because they are
generally younger.
Largest group:
Indians, Pakistani
then Black
Caribbean's.
Hybrid culture:
mixture of their
home culture and
British culture.
some claim
immigration
controls are unfair,
and only
discriminated
against non-white
people.
The Cantle
Report: it argues
for increased
integration.
Black Caribbean's
are more likely to be
unemployed.
Groups least likely
to suffer from
unemployment are
Indian
men(middle-class
education).
black males are
more likely to go
to prison
Females work
hard in school
and have values
of achievement.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/7856787/Violent-inner-
city-crime-the-figures-and-a-question-of-race.html
• The police figures also show that black men are twice as likely to
be victims.
• Just over 12 per cent of London’s 7.5 million population is black
• Blacks made up 29 per cent of the male victims of gun crime and
24 per cent of the male victims of knife crime.
• Figures released annually have shown black people are at least six
times more likely to be stopped and searched than their white
counterparts.
• The statistics also suggest that black women are responsible for a
disproportionate amount of violent crime committed by females.
“Just because the police treat black men as more criminal than white
men, it does not mean that they are.” Simon Woolley
“Although the charge rates for some criminal acts amongst black men
are high, black people are more than twice as likely to have their
cases dismissed, suggesting unfairness in the system.” Human Rights
Commission.

Stephen Lawrence
was a Black British man from Eltham, south east
London, who was murdered in a racist attack while
waiting for a bus on the evening of 22 April
1993. The case became a cause célèbre and one of
the highest profile racial killings in UK history; its
fallout included profound cultural changes to
attitudes on racism and the police, and to the law
and police practice, and the partial revocation
of double jeopardy laws, before two of the
perpetrators were convicted almost 20 years later
in 2012.

Waddington (2004)
• The police do stop a predominately higher
number of blacks.
• He also argues that the police simply target
those ethic minority groups likely to be out at
night in high risk areas.
• Young blacks are likely to live in inner city's
(target areas).

Alexander (2000)
• Suggests there is a moral panic in regards to
Asian people.
• Racist attacks against Asians has increased
since 9/11 and this may have been underlying
cause of Bradford riot.
Abbas (2005)- suggests that Asian youths are
more willingly to stand up for their rights against
racism

Marist view
• Capitalism creates racism
• Castles and Kosack (1973) ethnic minorities
are reserve army of cheap labour- low wages
for all.
• Whites blame ethic minorities for all their
problems economically in a downfall
(recession)

Lea & young
• First to acknowledge that black people are not
simply victims of racism but are actually more
likely to be involved with street crime.

Functionalist view
• Immigrant cultures take time to intergrate
themselves into the norms and values of the
host culture.
• Eventually crime problems associated will
disappear as the immigrants are assimilated.
• Politicians produce ideals of multiculturalism
to encourage integration but some see this as
‘backfiring’ and now want to embrace the
assimilation idea again.

Gender and crime
• Are woman less criminal than men?
• Are there differences in the amount of crime committed by
men and woman?
• Are there differences in types of crime committed by be and
woman.is there any evidence that woman's crime has
changed in either amount of kind.
• Female crime statistics:
• Woman commit less but still commit a variety of crimes.
• Motivated by economic factors similarly to men.
• Woman feel more stigma and impact of the criminal labels
• Woman are seen to be doubly deviant and unfeminine.

Chivalry factor
• Woman are more deviant than they appear and
are protected by the chivalry factor by police,
courts etc.
• Hillary Allen (1987) – argues mental health
explanations including PMS for female criminality
results in lighter sentences and punishments.
• Eileen Leonard (1982)- challenges the chivalry
factor pointing out how bad woman are treated
more harshly than some men.

Frances Heidensohn (1985)
• We should not be asking why some woman are criminal but
why woman are so uncriminal.
• Three explanations:
– Biological – woman have a dispositiona that repels them from
crime and deviant behaviour. (hormones). Woman are seen to
be more scared of being labelled.
– sex-role theory- we are socialised into sex roles from a child,
woman being caring passive and domestic. Laddetes behaviour
challenges this. Shoplifting and prostitution is still seen as a
caring factor as woman do it to provide for their family. Woman
used to also be seen as having less opportunism to commit
crime.
– Transgression- postmodern, woman's liberation will increase
and so will female criminality.

Stephan Box
• Feels that any increase in woman's property
crime has more to do with poverty that their
liberation.
• He found a relationship between the increasing
employment of woman police officers and the
recording of violent crime by woman
• He suggests authorities have been sensitized
resulting in female crimes of violence becoming
more likely to be recorded.

Messerschmidt (1993)
• Argues there is a normative masculinity- valued by most
men.
• argues masculinity has to be worked at.
• He says business men can achive masculinity by exercising
power over woman in the work place, whereas men with
no power within the work place express masculinity
through domestic violence.
• He argues middle-class boys achieve educational success
with the risk of emasculation. They compensate for this
outside of school by engaging In pranks and excessive
drinking.
• Working-class males adopt oppositional masculinity both
inside and outside school, and are more aggressive in
nature.

Bea Campbell (1993)
• Argues men seek compensation for lack of
masculinity, of a breadwinner status by using
aggressive masculinity.

Katz (1988)
• Argues criminology has failed to understand
the role of pleasure in committing crime,
• A search for pleasure is meaningful when
equated with masculinity’s stress upon status,
control and success.
• Violent crime can be seen as seductive
undertaken chaos, thrill and potential danger

statistics
• 1 in 4 woman experience domestic violence in
their lives
• 1 in 10 woman yearly experience domestic
violence.
• Domestic violence is more likely to occur
during pregnancy.an act of domestic violence
occurs every 6 seconds in Britain.

Sociological Theory
• Functionalism
• Marxism
• Feminism
• Social Action Theory
• Interactionist / labelling theory
• Postmodernism
Micro
Macro

Functionalism
• Functionalists believe that society has:
– a common culture
– value consensus
• We learn this culture through the
process of socialisation
• They consider society as a system
where each institution serves a
particular function
• They are concerned with the particular
function of these institutions
Durkheim
Merton
Hirchie

Criticisms of Functionalism
• Functionalists present an overly harmonious
picture of society
• Marxists state that functionalists underestimate
the degree of conflict in society
• Micro theories – functionalism does not consider
individual action

Marxism
Chambliss
Althusser
box
Carson
hall;
Snider
Taylor et al
• Founded by Karl Marx
• Focuses of the role of Capitalism in society
£££££££££££ PROFIT £££££££££££££
• Ownership class – Bourgeoisie
EXPLOITATION
• Subject class – Proletariat
Karl Marx

Criticisms of Marxism
• Marx is criticised for placing too much
emphasis on economic factors
• Marx underestimates the growth of the
middle classes
• Marxism has been described as a one-dimensional
theory

Feminism
• Feminists see society as patriarchal
• They believe that women should have
equality with men
• Feminists try to change the imbalance
of power between men and women
• One of the focuses of the feminists is
the way that boys and girls are
socialised in to specific gender roles
Hillary Allen
Leonard
Pat Carlen
Lombroso
Heidensohn
Wilkinson
Smart
Adler
Messerschmidt
Carrel
Katz
Brownmiller
stanko

Criticisms of Feminism
• There are many differences between men and
women which are not taken in to
consideration
• There have been legal changes that have
benefited women

Macro Theories Recap
These three theories stress the way in
which the individual is constrained by
society
• Functionalism shows how common culture
affects our behaviour
• Marxism puts emphasis on capitalism
• Feminism puts emphasis on feminism

Social Action Theory
• Social Action Theory looks at small-scale
interaction
• They claim that society is the result of human
activity
– In order to understand society we need to
consider how people act, think and feel
– The interpretation of the individual is important
– Meanings are not fixed

Examples:
Why might she be crying?
What could be the different
interpretations for a group of
youths?

Criticisms of Social Action Theory
• They do not take in to consideration the
historical and social settings in which
interaction takes place
• Not everybody’s interpretations are given the
same validity.

Interactionist / labelling theory
• They are interested in the labels that people
are given and the impact that those labels
have on them.
• Self-fulfilling prophecy
• It can work in both a positive and a negative
way
Cicourel
Giddens
Chambliss
Lemert
Becker
young

Criticisms of interactionist / labelling
theory
• Critics argue that not everyone goes along
with the label. Some people resist.

Postmodernism
Foucault
Kloges
• Postmodernists do not believe that it is
possible to have one theory to explain things
about society.
• They believe that we are in a ‘postmodern’
age where there is freedom of choice.
Allowing people to construct their own
identity which is not fixed.
• Individuals might have a blurred image of
what is reality and what is not – hyper-reality

Criticisms of Postmodernism
• It is not always possible to achieve what you
are aiming for, they might not have the ability
to express it as they had intended
• Individuals might face certain restrictions
which would prevent them from achieving
what they were aiming for

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