2.3 Sociological theories Flashcards
Consensus theories
Society works together in harmony & institutions all co-operate
Conflict theories
Society doesn’t work well & institutions conflict
Functionalism
Focus on structure of society & underlying cause of crime
Durkheim’s functionalist theory
Stable structure based on shared norms/values/beliefs - most people conform & do not deviate (criminals - do not conform & are inadequately socialised, subcultures w/different values)
Functions of crime (Durkheim)
1) Boundary maintenance (reminder of boundary between right & wrong/reaffirming values)
2) Social change (challenging existing norms & values/will initially seen as deviancy)
3) Safety value
4) Warning light (deviancy indicates issues in society)
Strength of Durkheim
Useful (first to recognise positive functions of crime such as reinforcing right & wrong boundaries)
Limitations of Durkheim
Validity (unable to know how much deviance in society is the right amount to function)
Reductionist (only accounts for functionality for criminals, not victims)
Merton’s Strain Theory
Societal goals (rich and successful)
Blocked opportunities -> unequal chance to be rich & successful leads to strain between goals + legit access -> crime and deviancy
5 groups of society (Merton)
- Conformists - legit achievement
- Innovation - accept goal but illegal methods
- Ritualism - give up on success
- Retreatism - dropouts reject goals & means
- Rebellion - reject existing goals & means & replace with ones to change society
Strength of Merton
Useful (shows how both normal & criminal behaviour stem from the same goals -> conformists & innovators both pursue money success by different means)
Limitations of Merton
Validity/Generalisability (ignores crime of the wealthy & over-prediction of amount of working-class crime)
Reductionism (focuses on utilitarian crimes [theft] and ignores crimes with no motive/gain [vandalism])
Marxism
Unequal structure of capitalist society shapes behaviour (split into bourgeoisie [ruling capitalist] & proletariat [working class exploited by capitalists])
Most likely to commit crime according to marxism
Proletariat (law & justice system -> social control keep working class in their place & keep the divide)
Reasons for criminality (Marxism)
Capitalism causes crime, law making/enforcement is biased & ideological functions of crime + law
Capitalism causes crime (Marxism)
- Exploitation leads to poverty (crime needed to survive)
- Consumer goals pushed through advertising (desire to obtain leads to crime)
- Inequality leads to alienation & frustration (non-utilitarian crimes)
- Need to gain more profit (crime amongst capitalists [tax evasion])
Law making/enforcement is biased (Marxism)
- Serves interest of bourgeoisie
- Protects property of capitalists (proposed by William Chambliss)
- Selective law enforcement (against the working class)
Ideological functions of crime & law (Marxism)
- Ideas that conceal inequality of capitalist society
- Place blame on working class
- Shifts attention away from crimes in bourgeoisie
- Health & safety laws to benefit workers (makes them accept capitalism)
Strength of Marxism
Credible (corporate crimes rarely prosecuted -> explained by bias of law enforcement & making against the working class & favourability of the upper)
Limitations of Marxism
Reductionist (focuses on class & ignores relationships between crime & other inequalities such as gender or ethnicity)
Validity (not all capitalist societies have high crime rates -> Japan homocides are 1/5 of the USAs)
Labelling theory (interactionalism)
Social constructs (no act is deviant or criminal until deemed it by society), if people are treated/labelled as criminals then they become criminals (self-fulfilling prophecy -> labelled after secondary deviance leads to joining subcultures & being rejected by society)
Other labelling theory points
- Selective law enforcement: targetted by stereotyping
- Differential enforcement: harsher on those matching stereotype
- Deviance amplification spiral
- Rejection of crime stats: measure police doing but not criminality
Strengths of labelling theory
Useful (shifts focus onto how police create crime via stereotyping -> explains over-representation of working class and minorities in crime stats)
Practical application (shows how attempts to control deviance can trigger spiral & create more)
Right realism
Conservative political outlook that sees crime as a growing problem & results to practical solutions to reduce crime (control & punishment)
Factors that produce crime (right realism)
Biological difference between individuals, inadequate socialisation, offending being a ration choice
Biological difference between individuals (right realism)
Wilson & Herrstein -> differences makes some individuals more likely to commit crime
Inadequate socialisation (right realism)
Effective socialisation -> reduced chance of offending due to being taught correct values & self-control
Nuclear family -> best agency of socialisation
Offending is a rational choice (right realism)
People are rational beings with free will -> deciding to commit crimes is based on rational calculations of consequences
Strength of right realism
Credible (Feldman - people make rational decisions on if the reward is high & risk low to commit the crime)
Limitation of right realism
Reductionist (high focus on young males, fails to explain white collar crime (focused on street crime), ignores increasing gap between rich & poor)
Left realism
Socialist political outlook focused on inequality in capitalist society being the root cause of crime with victims being disadvantaged groups where crime rates are highest & police take crimes against them less seriously, believes crime will be reduced by equality
Factors that produce crime - Lea & Young (left realism)
Relative deprivation, subculture, marginalisation
Relative deprivation (left realism)
How badly deprived someone feels in relation to others due to:
- Media pumping messages urging to aspire to material possessions (lead to crime to acquire)
- More unequal society due to cuts in benefits, unemployment, job insecurity & low pay (lead to crime to have money)
Young - relative deprivation downwards -> people better off resent those worse off (explains hate crime)
Subculture (left realism)
Group’s way of solving problem of relative deprivation -> illegitimate means to reach materialistic goals (crime)
Marginalisation (left realism)
Lack of organisations to represent working class interests & lack clearly defined goals -> powerlessness -> leads to rioting/violent crimes
Surveillance theories
Idea of monitoring people to control crime, proposed by Foucault -> modern society is increasingly controlled by self-surveillance & that people behave as if constantly being watched (Panopticon)
Synoptic surveillance
Mathiesen -> everyone watches everyone (exercises self-discipline)
